Family Portrait
by UglyDucklingPsychoSwan
Summary: All actions have consequences. The past has caught up with the Joker and Harley and it's a race against time to live or die.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This is the final installment of the series from Young Gods and Toxic Love. This is currently rated T, but it's possible that it'll go up as the story progresses. This isn't going to be a very long story, but I couldn't keep you guys waiting any longer. Thank you so much for your support for the first two stories and I hope you enjoy this one too._

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Chapter 1

Technically, Bruce Wayne should've been in his office at Wayne Towers in Gotham. He should've been dealing with his various franchises and business deals, but he wasn't. He wasn't doing anything of the sort. Instead, he was in bed with Selina Kyle, in broad daylight. However, in Bruce's defence, she had been out of town on and off for almost five years, at one point she'd been gone an entire year. She'd be around for a few weeks, disappear for a similar amount of time and when she did disappear, no one knew where she went. Whatever she was protecting obviously wasn't that important and Bruce wouldn't push her whilst she was back and they were on good terms.

He knew that it was partly his fault that they were so on and off with their relationship, but he did have a reputation to maintain and if Selina wouldn't settle down with him, he wasn't about to wait for her. Bruce ran his hand up and down Selina's back, keeping her pressed against him and he kissed her forehead. Out of all of them, she kept coming back and he kept going back to her.

"You're not getting soppy on me are you, hero?" Selina smirked.

"You wish," Bruce chuckled. "Just happy that you're back."

"It certainly felt like you were happy for me to be back," Selina purred and kissed him deeply before she rested her cheek on his bare chest again. "It's time for this Kitten to find her way home. I have a few things to sort out in Gotham, I'll be around for a few weeks. I'll come here, rather than you wander over to my place."

"Any particular reason?" Bruce said with a slight frown.

"Yeah, the gutter folk and down and outs don't appreciate play boy billionaires paying visits," Selina chuckled. "Plus, this bed is much nicer to roll around in."

"True," Bruce nodded and watched as she tried to untangle herself from his limbs. He pulled her back down and kissed her once more before she finally got out of the bed. He let his eyes run over her nude form and he smiled to himself. He watched her slip back into her underwear and then she wiggled into her cat suit.

"That ass," Bruce mumbled.

"So much nicer than anyone else's, right Brucey?" Selina laughed. She tucked her hair into the hat and attached her whip to her belt. She leaned over to give him one last kiss before she scrambled out of the window.

"See you around, Selina," Bruce said brightly and propped himself up against the head of the bed. Catwoman looked at him and raised an eyebrow before she dropped out of the window and disappeared towards the city. He knew better than to argue with her, but he would find out who she was protecting and why she was protecting them. Someone in Gotham had to know what was going on.

"Master Wayne? Are you as decent as that wretched thief will allow you?" Alfred called through the door.

"Yes, Alfred," Bruce said and rolled his eyes. He closed his eyes and let out a long breath as his oldest friend walked in and put a mug of hot black coffee on the bedside table. Alfred had healed very well after the Joker's attack and despite Bruce's best efforts, Alfred had refused to retire. Not that Bruce didn't want him around anymore, but he couldn't bear the thought of Alfred being hurt because of his enemies and feuds.

"So Miss Kyle is staying this time?"

"No, Alfred, she's got her own business to take care of," Bruce answered.

"And you have many," Alfred muttered. "You're needed in Gotham. The telephone hasn't stopped ringing this morning and there's only so many times I can use the excuse of the bathroom for you, Mr Wayne."

"I'm going, I'm going," Bruce said with a sigh.

"She comes here, makes a mess, eats my food and then disappears without so much as a goodbye," Alfred huffed. "I don't know what you see in that woman, I wouldn't call her a lady. She's a thief, a liar. She crosses you and you just smirk and thank her for it."

"Alfred."

"And then she puts on that ridiculous outfit and pounces off into the night-"

"Alfred-"

"-And steals thousands of pounds of feline memorabilia and you just laugh it off!"

"Alfred, enough, I get it, you still don't like Selina," Bruce laughed gently.

"Now that Thalia woman, she was-"

"Worse than Selina. Come on, let me get to work before you complain anymore," Bruce said calmly. "You Brits really don't do anything but complain do you?" Alfred went to answer back but just sighed and walked away.

"As you will, Master Bruce," he said and shut the door behind him. After he showered, Bruce dressed into one of his suits and headed out to his car. He headed into the city and watched the people around him. They all scurried around in their lives trying to stay out of the way of the cities gory underworld, those that were brave enough to dip their toes into the clubs, bars and street crime, often came out burned or terrified. It certainly took a special type of person to get involved with that world. He looked in his rear view mirror and saw cars pulling to the side of the road. He checked his wing mirrors and couldn't see any flashing lights or hear any sirens. Then the reason became apparent. A shimmering purple Lamborghini sped up towards the back of his car. In the driver's seat was the Prince of crime himself and Bruce reluctantly pulled to the side as well. He didn't want to start a fight that would end up in half of the rush hour traffic dead and slumped at their steering wheels.

The damned Clown.

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Joker sped through Gotham, ignoring red lights and other cars. He had more important places to be and everyone understood the consequences of getting in his way. He pressed his foot down and took the final turn before the club with a bit of a skid and finally slowed down to park outside the Grin and Bare It. His baby, his money-maker. He had an affinity for the building that he struggled to have with any human around him. Well, except for three. Maybe four if you counted his reliance on Frost as a relationship. But sometimes he had to clear his head and take a drive when the pressures of his life got to him. He jumped out of the car and let one of the goons park it in the hideaway. He strolled into the entrance of the club and saw Frost waiting for him.

"Are they sorted out?" Joker asked.

"Well, Jack is," Frost smirked. "I don't think the other two are getting much further than when you left."

"For the love of-!" Joker snarled and walked passed his right-hand man. He headed down to the gym and ignored the henchmen as they scrambled to attention at the arrival of their boss. He wrenched the door open and frowned when he didn't immediately see Harley. He did however see Jack playing with his toys at the bottom of Harley's aerial set. He was sat with another child and Joker tilted his head. He moved forward and Jack spotted him. He dropped his toys and ran to his father.

"Dad!" Jack squealed. He threw himself into Joker's arms and the Clown gave his son a quick hug before putting him back on the floor.

"Who's ya friend, Junior?" Joker asked.

"Lena," Jack answered as if that solved all of his father's questions. "Momma's up top."

Joker ruffled his son's hair and finally looked towards the ceiling. There she was. His pale skinned angel of death and chaos. She was lounging on the silks like she was born to be up there, the material was wrapped around her in such a way that she was held horizontally, but very securely as she had their little daughter on her stomach. Harley Quinn. She struck fear and lust into the hearts of all that laid eyes upon her. She was beautiful, athletic, deadly and the Joker's loyal companion. Their relationship was still toxic, they hurt each other and loved each other in equal measure, but they both kept it far away from the children. The one request he granted Harley was to keep their children out of their fighting.

Lucy Quinn was only two years old, the spitting image of her mother in pretty much every way. But she was unrestrained chaos and if she wanted something, she damn well got it. Lucy was a daddy's girl and craved his attention, she did however love spending time with her mother on the silks and it was the only time the toddler was every truly calm. In truth, it was also the only time Harley was calm too. Having her babies close and up off the ground helped her feel secure and safe. In an ever-changing Gotham, she had to make sure her babies weren't in the firing line.

"Harley," Joker said loudly. "My Queen, you need to come down from there."

"Dada!" Lucy squealed and Harley grinned as she came out of her little world. She peered down at him and wrapped Lucy safely in her arms. She slowly twirled her way down the silks towards the floor and when she was almost down, she let Lucy leap at her father. Joker caught his daughter and pressed kisses to her cheeks.

"Daddy! 'ipstick!" Lucy giggled and cuddled against him. Harley flipped down onto her feet and ran her hands through her long hair. Joker ran his tongue over his grill and shifted Lucy onto his hip. He hooked his hand around Harley's waist and pulled her against him. He kissed her hard and bit her bottom lip. She whimpered against his mouth and he broke the kiss.

"Puddin'," Harley grinned.

"Now, Harley," Joker said carefully. "How have we acquired a third child in the forty minutes I've been out?"

"Oh Ivy dropped her off," Harley said. "Said we needed to look after her for a couple a' hours whilst she sorted out some plant toxins."

"Who is she?" Joker demanded.

"I dunno, Red didn't wanna tell me, somethin' about me not keepin' secrets," Harley shrugged. "The names Helena. She's quite cute, but don't talk much. Not like Lucy."

"We're going out with Jack and Lucy, Harls, we can't drag around… the other one," Joker sighed. "That's why I told you to get dressed up and ready."

"Terrorising Penguin can wait a couple of hours, puddin'," Harley sighed. "Besides, this one needs a bath and we all know she will not stay put in the tub for me."

"Which one?" Joker cooed and touched Lucy's chin. "This one? I don't know about my little Princess needing a bath, but my Queen… now she definitely needs a scrub."

"Yeah?" Harley smirked. A lot had changed for the Clowns over the years since Jack had been born. Their son was now almost 7 years old, their daughter 2 and they showed no signs of calming down whatsoever. If anything, having children had made them more likely to lash out and kill someone. They weren't perfect, the Joker's temper occasionally got the better of him and Harley made their lives unnecessarily complicated, but they worked and their two children didn't want for anything. Harley had seen to making sure that they had everything they could possibly need and heads rolled if it wasn't quite right.

Joker treated Jack like a Prince, he gave the young boy more responsibility than strictly needed, and he put pressure on him to watch him cope. The little boy was growing to look more and more like his father, his hair was slowly turning a shade of green and he carried himself with the same swagger the King had. But Lucy was his golden child. That beautiful little girl had been born with the cord wrapped around her neck and the doctor had had to use forceps to pull the baby out of Harley. He'd once thought that Jack's birth had been traumatic, but he hadn't been ready for his daughter's entrance into the world. Harley had been very sick afterwards and it had been touch and go as to whether she'd survive, but she'd come back stronger than before and being surrounded by her two children had made her fight. She was back on form these days and her name carried the same power as it had before the children.

"Where'd ya go, puddin'?" Harley asked with a small smile.

"Out?"

"No, just then, when you were thinkin'?" she said calmly.

"Imagining the Bat's head on a stick," Joker lied. He kissed her one last time before he moved away with Lucy. Life had definitely changed him. It had made him crazier having his two heirs dependent on him. But he found strange peace when he was alone with Lucy. His daughter's chaotic and lively mind silenced his. He guessed this is what Jack had done for Harley and why she was so protective over him when he' first been born. It was the closest he got to clear-thinking.

So he took his little daughter up to the apartment for a bath whilst Harley took care of Jack and Helena. His little family was important to him. The Bat had been pushed down a few notches as they'd grown and, whilst he'd never tell Harley, he was as happy as a murderous psychopathic clown could get. He had a city to terrorise, business was good, he had his badass wife slaughtering those who crossed them and his two children that were everything he needed them to be for Gotham's future. Jack would one day take his place, he had to be ready for their kingdom and as much as Harley pandered to the boy, he wasn't as kind. Lucy was their princess, she was the precious one and Joker didn't find Harley's jokes about her being surrounded by boys very funny at all.

Joker had Lucy washed and dressed in record time. He put his little girl in a pink dress and brushed her thick long white hair, he put her little shoes on her feet and then let her run to Harley. He watched as Harley wrapped her arms around her daughter and lifted her up, Harley put the toddler on her hip and held Jack's hand. Helena was sat quietly on the sofa, swinging her little legs and smiling politely at the two adults.

"Lena, do you want a sammich?" Harley asked.

"Whatsa sammich?" Helena frowned. Before Harley could answer, there was a bang from the kitchen. Harley and Joker immediately went into defensive mode. Harley held her hand out and put Lucy down on the floor. Jack dragged the two younger girls into one of the small rooms and locked the door behind them. Joker picked up his crowbar and Harley her bat and gun. They walked silently to the kitchen and burst through the door.

Nothing.

Apart from a note.

 _"_ _You took everything from me, so I'm going to show you exactly how it feels to lose it all._

 _Keep a close eye on the kids._

 _Especially the girl_

 _From, your failed project_ "

"Jay…" Harley muttered. "It's… who the hell is this?"

"I'm going out, you stay with the kids," Joker snarled and crushed the paper in his hands. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Lock the windows, I'll leave Frost with you."

"Puddin', tell me what the hell is goin' on!" Harley demanded. He spun round, grabbed her by the throat and pushed her against the counter of the kitchen.

"Do as you are told, Harley!" he spat. She felt her lip twitch upwards in anger but he tightened his grip on her neck and she tried to gulp a lump in her throat. "I will not tell you twice. You and the kids stay here, I swear to god, if any of you leave, I will beat you to a pulp. This isn't a game."

"What have you done?" Harley whispered.

"Nothing that concerns you," Joker sneered. "Now, do as you're told and I won't have to worry your pretty little head. Go. Get the kids and do not let them out of your sight. I've got someone to take care of."

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 _A/N: the second chapter may take a few days to come through, I wanted to give you guys this starter chapter as a thank you for all your support._

 _Please drop me a review! The more reviews, the faster you get your chapters haha!_


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Wow! Thank you for that reaction guys! I really didnt expect it! Thank you so so much!_

 _Because se of your amazing comments, favourites and follows, have Chatper 2 a couple of days early :-D_

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Chapter 2

"So he just upped and left without telling you anything?" Pamela Isley asked from her perch on the sofa. She had received a panicked phone call from Harley and had rushed round. She hadn't really understood what Harley was worried about, but she wouldn't leave her with the kids if Joker had kicked off yet again.

"He told me not to leave the house or let the babies out of my sight," Harley repeated for the fifth time. She'd called Ivy because she'd been worried about the invisible intruder, plus she felt more at ease having her friend close by. Yes Frost was there, but he was better at security than comforting and he would just get in Harley's way. They were sat in the living room, the three children were sat on the floor with plates of sandwiches, apples, carrots, grapes and potato chips. The sweeties and candy were saved for later. Jack helped his little sister break her sandwich into smaller pieces and he was polite with Helena as well.

"Whose kid is she?" Harley questioned Ivy. "I mean, I'm feedin', waterin' and keepin' her, but I don't even know who she is."

"She's a friends little girl, Harls, you know that's all I can tell you," Ivy sighed. "If I could trust you not to tell the clown, I would tell you. But it's important he doesn't know. No one can know."

"Apart from you?" Harley said pointedly. "Gee, Red, I don't know how I feel bein' left outta this. First Kitty goes off on a wander and neither of you tell me where she is-"

"Harley, last time she went away and told you, you told Batman," Ivy replied with a frown and shrugged her shoulders. "The guy she was trying to get away from."

"But she didn't tell me that," Harley explained. "If she had, I would never have said anythin'!"

"Harley Quinn, you're an awful liar," Ivy laughed and hugged her quickly. She tried not to be too affectionate with Harley around the kids, she didn't want to complicate their already insanely convoluted lives any more than she had to. She'd been by Harley's side when complications with Lucy's birth had gotten too much for both Harley and Joker, she'd watched the family grow and change and she'd been the first to notice the slight differences between Lucy and other children.

Ivy was the only person in Gotham that had been entrusted with Selina Kyle's secrets and where she'd been staying. She knew that information would get her into trouble eventually, but she hoped that Cat would be back in her old stomping grounds by then. She'd lost a lot of friends thanks to her relationship with Batman, and Ivy fully planned on using that as leverage against her friend.

True friendships were rare in Gotham City, they were hard to come by and hard to keep when everyone was out to get one another. Harley and Ivy were almost unique in how close and loyal they were to each other. Harley didn't have a problem with twisting Ivy to her own use, but Ivy would never shoot back. She truly wanted to believe that Harley was only influenced by Joker, she didn't want to think the woman she loved was really that vile and manipulative.

Just how Harley liked her to think.

"Can you be trusted not to wind the kids up whilst I go to the bathroom?" Ivy asked and Harley just smiled and nodded. The white haired woman watched Ivy walk away and grabbed her phone from the opposite arm of the chair. She opened up her messages and looked for her conversation with Selina. She read a few texts quickly before sending one of her own.

 _"_ _Cat, unknown intruder at Harley's, might need your help"_

"That should do the trick," Harley grinned. She shut the phone down and put it back where Ivy had left it. She sat back on the sofa and giggled when Lucy reached up wanting a cuddle. Harley lifted her baby girl up and wrapped her arms around her.

"Momma, where daddy?" Lucy asked with a frown.

"He's goin' to sort out the scary man who was in the kitchen," Harley answered. "He won't be long, daddy sort's things out pretty quickly." There was no use lying to Lucy, things tended to get a bit strange when Lucy was angry and somehow, at 2, she could tell whether she was being lied to or not. Harley stroked her hands through Lucy's long thick white hair and hummed a little as the strands passed through her fingers.

Something was odd about Joker's disappearance. He was never that flighty unless he hadn't told her something and with how quickly he had turned aggressive, it was something big and she didn't like not knowing. She couldn't think of any 'experiments' that Joker had allowed to live, but that didn't mean anything at all. Their early years held many secrets on both sides and she was sure he'd had more than a few hookers to hide from her. Whoever it was, she was sure that they had to be from back then.

"And the room is in one piece, you're definitely becoming a mother, Harls," Ivy smirked as she came back. Harley smiled up at her friend and cuddled Lucy for a few minutes more before the little girl got bored and tried to scramble away.

"Momma! Let go!" Lucy whined.

"I can't! My arms are stuck to you!" Harley gasped and didn't let go of the child.

"You're lying!"

"I'm not, the same thing happened yesterday," Harley explained. Lucy giggled and squealed, Harley let her go after a couple of minutes and watched her lovingly as she grabbed toys from the stash in the corner and started to play by herself.

"You're such a good mom," Ivy smiled. "I never… ever thought that I'd see you with two of your own children. Much less with that creep. You're so good, it's like you were meant to be a mom."

"These two make it easy," Harley chuckled. "Even if Lucy did try to kill me on the way out."

"Take more than that to get rid of you though," Ivy laughed. There was a sudden bang on the front door and it flung open to reveal a flustered and stressed looking Catwoman stood there. Frost fumbled with the door and stumbled in behind her.

"What's the emergency? Is Helena okay?" Catwoman demanded.

"What emergency?" Ivy asked.

"You text me, saying there was an intruder," Selina snapped. "What the hell…"

And then the penny dropped as the white haired woman smirked.

"Harley…" Selina growled.

"It's been ages since I've seen ya, Kitty, and I figured this would be the only way to get ya attention," Harley shrugged. A frosty silence took over the room and Harley clicked her fingers, calling the Hyenas to her. Lucy looked up to watch the adults with her cold blue eyes and Jack looked nervously between his mother and Selina. Then Helena perked up and looked to the woman in black leather.

"Momma!" Helena giggled and ran over to Selina. Harley grinned and then her jaw dropped as realisation hit her. So _that's_ why she had to look after the little girl. She was Selina's daughter and that meant…

"You knew!" Harley challenged Ivy. "All this time, you knew?"

"Yes because I couldn't trust you with the truth, Harl," Ivy hissed. "Why did you break into my phone to contact Selina?"

"Because you wouldn't tell me what was going on," Harley answered flatly.

"Do not tell the Clown," Selina said angrily. "Do not tell anyone. No one knows."

"Kitty, she's a good kid, why are you tryin' ta hide her?" Harley asked.

"Because of people like your psychotic husband," Catwoman snapped. "Helena will not be killed by the Clown, TwoFace or anyone else. That's the risk you decided to take, Harley, I will not do that to _my_ daughter."

"Is Bats her daddy?" Harley giggled. "He is isn't he? And he doesn't know! Oh bad Kitty, bad, bad Kitty!"

"Harley!" Selina shouted. "How dare you! How dare _you_! I am trying to protect my daughter and you-"

"Cat, calm down," Ivy said, her eyes falling on Lucy. She'd dropped her toys and her little face was scrunched up in anger.

"No! She needs to keep her brat in control!" Selina spat. "You need to take a look in the mirror and recognise why I didn't tell you! You cannot be trusted with anything! You constantly squeal when Joker pokes the right button and you-"

"Selina!" Ivy shouted.

"You're a fine one to take the moral high ground, Cat!" Harley retorted.

"You had two kids with a man who thinks nothing of trying to kill you every few weeks!" Selina continued on her tirade. "But no, I'm the one in the wrong because I don't want my daughter in this world. I want her to be away from this nasty side of Gotham. I don't want my little girl to become a victim of some madman and his mallet wielding hench-wench! You're happy to let your kids live with the man that would destroy them, with the man that's destroyed _you_ and I'm the bad one?"

That hurt.

"Both of you!" Ivy yelled above them. "Harley, go and calm Lucy!" Harley spun round and saw her daughter stood by the wall, all the glass frames near her had cracked and the glass tumblers from Joker's scotch decanter had smashed.

"Baby, I'm sorry, oh baby girl," Harley gasped and rushed to Lucy. She swept her child into her arms and rubbed her back. As Lucy calmed down, the glass repaired itself and the tumblers clicked back into place as if nothing had happened. Harley rocked slowly with her girl and pressed kisses into her hair. She soothed the child until Lucy was almost asleep in her arms. Jack wandered to his mother and sister and stood by them like their guardian, a fierce look on his little face that was a little too reminiscent of Joker's. Cat's words had cut Harley deeply and she was struggling to contain her own anger and sadness.

"Harley, I'm sorry," Selina sighed and she stroked Helena's shoulder. "I didn't mean to upset Lucy. Or you."

"I'm sure you didn't," Harley said shortly. "Despite what both of you think, J wouldn't kill a child. Not… not like that. He wouldn't now he has his own children. Both of you get out. My home, my family is under threat, I can't have people I don't trust around my babies."

"Harley-"

"Now, Red," Harley screeched. "Go away!"

"Call me, honey," Ivy said calmly and she let Selina and Helena go first. Frost held the door open and shut it behind them. He escorted them to Pamela's car and made sure they drove away. He returned to the apartment and in the short time that Frost had been gone, Harley had put Lucy down for a nap and Jack was playing with the Hyenas quietly. But Harley was nowhere to be seen.

"Harls?" Frost called out. He rested his hand on his gun holster and his senses immediately went into over drive. The Hyenas weren't panicking, but if she'd stepped onto the balcony, he wasn't sure they'd know if anything had happened. "Harley!"

"Frosty?" the Queen of Gotham asked as she emerged from her bedroom. He noticed she was now sporting a long sleeved cardigan and he frowned. There were a few things she did these days that worried him about Harley's mental state and he wasn't sure that her bubbly and unpredictable disposition was really what was going on.

"There ya are," Frost said with a smile. "Don't do that to me, I thought I was gonna have to tell the boss you'd disappeared."

"I'm fine," Harley replied. "I just… I need to go out and destroy something. Pammy and Selina have pissed me off. Talking shit about my puddin' and my babies."

"Momma, bad words!" Jack insisted and walked over. He raised a finger and waved it at her. Harley's heart melted a little. Her strapping young boy was becoming more and more like his father with every day. He was going to be amazing. "Dad told me to tell you off if you swore around me and Lucy."

"Sorry, kiddo," Harley said and held the palm of her hand out. Jack smacked his hand on Harley's and he turned away with a huff. He ran his hand through his slightly green hair and he went back to sitting with Bud and Lou. Harley's hand stung and she looked at her fingers for a few moments. She'd never really thought about what they'd taught Jack, it had just become a thing that if she swore around the kids, as Joker never did, that Jack would smack her hand. It had helped stop her potty mouth at times, but sometimes she just wanted to swear and curse.

Harleen inside was absolutely distraught that Harley had taught yet another person that it was okay to hit her.

But Harley never listened to Harleen.

"Do you want me to stay here?" Jonny asked, his eyes resting on Jack for a minute. "I can keep them busy if there's stuff you gotta do?"

"I just need some air. Can you watch them?" Harley asked, though it wasn't really a question, Frost had to do anything that Harley asked of him. He nodded and took a seat on the arm of the sofa as Harley turned and walked back into her room. She walked to the balcony and leaned against the railing. She looked down at the city below and took a long deep breath. The air was fresh, it was polluted, it was claustrophobic and choking. Nothing about Gotham was fresh or nice.

She closed her eyes and tried to focus her mind. The insanity in her brain often made it hard for her to think straight for the kids when Joker wasn't around to remind her that that was her job in life now. Whilst she still went out occasionally with Joker, it had been a long time since they'd just been… them. If she wasn't with the kids, she was cooking, cleaning or sleeping. She didn't regret it, but she did miss the days where she could've jumped in the car with her puddin' and gone out for a night of brutality, booze and murder. She rarely got a chance to truly let her hair down and it was starting to take its toll. Her bloodlust was rising, the voices in her head were getting louder and she was getting twitchy with all around her. Her babies were her life, but her head had needs that weren't suitable for children.

Harley heard the sound of feet behind her, but she didn't react immediately. It wasn't Frost or Joker, it was… heavier, but not like the Bat. She took a long deep breath and pulled the knife from her belt. A hand slammed down on her shoulder and she dropped to the floor. Harley stabbed the knife into the plated suit and cut into the leg of the assailant. He hissed in agony and she managed to crawl between the persons legs and pop up behind him. The man in the black and red suit turned and Harley jumped at him. He fell against the concrete railing and she pressed the blade of the knife against the red neck of the suit.

"Who are ya?" Harley shouted.

"You should be more careful, Quinn," the male voice snapped.

"You come here, invade my home twice, scare my kids and have the audacity to wear a freakin' Bat suit!"

"It's not a Bat suit!" the man yelled. He threw Harley away from him and she jumped back to her feet, now back in her room. She heard the Hyenas scratching and sniffing at the door and went to let them in. But the man in the suit grabbed her arm, twisted it up behind her back and pushed her to the floor.

"Where is he?" the man demanded loudly.

"I ain't gonna tell ya!" Harley cackled.

"Fine, I'll go cut bits off your pretty daughter until you tell me," the man said flatly and dropped Harley to the floor. He wrenched the door open and was greeted by Frost's gun pointing between his eyes and a row of henchmen protecting the two children. Bud and Lou stood growling and snarling at the man before returning to Jack and Lucy.

"I think ya a bit screwed, pally," Harley grinned from behind him. She jumped up and wrapped her arms and legs around him, the knife pressed against his throat. "Now, are ya gonna tell momma Harley who ya are? Or do I have to get the police to do a DNA sample?"

She could practically hear the guys smirk as he pressed a panel on the wrist of the suit. Electricity bubbled through the suit and Harley, throwing her away and too the floor. The man ducked as Jonny pulled the trigger and he put his heavy boot against Harley's throat.

"I'm going to destroy your world like you and your vile clown did to me." He compressed Harley's windpipe and then legged it out of the room and off the balcony.

"Surround the building," Frost barked to the henchmen. "All of you, call everyone in. No one sleeps until this guy is caught." The goons did as Frost told and left the apartment. They collected guns, grenades, knives, anything and everything they could need. This guy wasn't messing around and no one was going to take risks. Frost sent a quick message to Boomerang and Croc to get to the club before he called Joker to get him home.

"Harley? You okay?" Frost asked after hanging up.

"Yeah… I'm fine," Harley mumbled. "But who are you?"

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 _A/N: Uh oh... Mistah J might not be all that happy..._

 _i cant wait to see what you think of the reveal of who our mysterious friend is haha!_

 _Please drop me a review or guess at who he is! The more reviews the quicker chapters arrive! :-)_


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Thank you guys! This ones looking to be about 10 chapters long, so very short and sweet, but I hope you enjoy it!_

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Chapter 3

Michaela Franklin had been through hell for the last 7 years. She had lost her partner to Harley Quinn, she'd temporarily been treated at the newly rebuilt Arkham Asylum for severe depression and anger issues, she'd been passed as safe to return to her job with the GCPD and she'd been part of a task force to target the Clowns of Gotham. Samantha Drake's family had hounded her for the death of their daughter and they were relentless until she sold the apartment and given them half the money. She'd been left ruined and broken and she had a score to settle.

Her grief for Sam had definitely taken its toll on her mind and she no longer felt anything for anyone that lost a loved one. Her feelings and emotions had been attributed to her childhood, but she knew that losing Sam was what had kicked her mental health problems forward. She had loved Samantha dearly, they'd done everything together and when Sam had first gotten caught on Harley Quinn, the pain had been unbearable for Michaela. She'd run away and gone to friends, she should've stayed and fought for the love of her life. She blamed herself for that, but the list of injuries Sam had from both Joker and Harley's torture were burned into her memory. She'd never let herself forget what the Clowns of Gotham had done and that made her obsession and wrath stronger.

Michaela walked to her grotty little flat in the worst part of Gotham, she went up the stairs and through the door. She hated this life. But her wage wasn't enough to afford better and it at least meant she was close to the Joker's club and she would be the first to get to them if they showed any weakness. She locked the door behind her and threw her purse on the floor. She turned the TV on and went to get herself a glass of red wine. She heard a knock on the door as she opened the bottle and she poured her glass before she went to open it. She put her hand on the handle and the door was pushed open.

"Hey!" Michaela shouted. "I'm a police officer-"

"You were Samantha Drakes girlfriend?" the man asked.

"Yeah, and?" Michaela said and grabbed her gun from her holster.

"I can help you get revenge on Joker and Harley Quinn," the man told her. "And stay out of the Bat's reach. Have you seen what they did to Drake?"

"No, all I know is what the coroner told me," Michaela replied. "How can I trust you?"

"Because I'm the only one that will help you get rid of them," he explained. "I'm the only one who understands the pain they've caused you. I'm the only one who has the balls to do what needs to be done to protect the innocent people of Gotham city."

The Man pulled the mask from his face to reveal locks of black hair, green eyes and a scarred face. There was a large J carved into the left hand side of his face, various lines and marks from where he'd obviously been brutalised. But it was his eyes that caught Michaela. There was a deep and unending hatred in those eyes. Whatever had happened had eaten away at this man's soul and it had left him with gaping mental wounds, long after the physical ones had healed back together.

"We have one advantage," he said and carefully replaced the mask. "Neither of them know who I am, or how I'm alive. But they'll figure it out and when they do, I'll be holding a gun to their heads."

"And what do you want from me?" Michaela asked, lowering her gun.

"I need your help," he admitted. "You're inside the GCPD. I need to know when they're striking the big bosses and when they're doing it. I need to know every movement of every unit in the city and then I need you to get me a few things. I need to know when the Bat checks in and then I want you to be there when it all happens. I want you to help me bring them down."

"I'm a cop, I can't, I'll be put away-"

"If prison is scarier for you than the Joker and Harley staying on the streets, then maybe I got all of your resentment wrong," he interrupted. "All the poison pen letters to the clowns, all the little plans in your diary to try and stop them, to sabotage their cars, your very angry sessions at Arkham, practicing for hours down the shooting ranges and removing a sniper rifle from the GCPD armoury and letting Scarecrow out of his holding cell to blame him on the gun going missing… you're already going to prison once they find you out. At least take the clowns with you."

"And what the hell do you think you are?" Michaela snapped. "Dressed up like a Batman groupie? Are you one of his friends or what?"

"Batman is… is responsible for what happened to me," the man told her. "He may not have taken a knife to me, but he didn't come looking for me and he didn't save me. He didn't save me!" He suddenly spun around and slammed his hands down on the wooden table and it broke into pieces. Michaela jumped back and her hand went back to her gun. She watched the masked man take a few deep breaths and he finally turned to her again.

"I am not one of his… perfect prissy little punks. I will kill and I have no problem killing whoever I need to, to get the job done. Put it this way, if you help me, I'll keep you away from the Bat and Blackgate, Arkham and anywhere else that you'd be taken. If you don't help me, I'll let Jim Gordon in on this little… obsession you've got."

Michaela felt her stomach drop. If any of the other officers knew what she'd removed from the GCPD, let alone the commissioner, she'd be straight to Arkham Asylum in a strait jacket and an extended prison sentence afterwards. She'd be targeted by everyone she'd ever put away, by the guards, doctors and anyone else. Cops didn't do well in prison. Especially cops like her.

"Okay," Michaela said. "What do you need?"

"For now? A list of all the dirty cops in the city, the Joker's safe houses and where the Bat signals are," he said. "You've got two days. For now, I'm going to have my fun. I'll be back. Don't let me down, Franklin. And watch this, it'll add fuel to your fire.

"What is it?"

"The security footage from Arkham." The man turned and left the flat and disappeared. Michaela looked at the mess in her flat and she started to clean up. She was definitely going to need more than one glass of wine over the next few days.

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Jonny Frost watched as Joker wrapped a blanket around Harley's shoulders and tried to make her feel comfortable. Instead of improving, she seemed to be rapidly losing some of her memories and she only seemed to remember Joker. She would stare blankly at Jack and Lucy as they tried to comfort their mother, but she'd been holding on to Joker like he was the only sense in the world. Her blue eyes were locked on him and she didn't look away.

"Frost, cook some dinner for Jack and Lucy," Joker snapped. "Do not let them out of your sight."

"Sure thing, boss," Jonny nodded and took Lucy's hand and guided Jack by his shoulder. "Come on you two, tell me how I'm doing everything wrong for pasta."

Joker let out a short breath and sat beside Harley. He held his arms out and she immediately found her way to him. She kept her blanket around her, but snuggled against his chest and rested her face into his neck. She was almost cold to the touch and she just seemed to want to be as close to him as she could possibly be.

"Harls, what do you remember?" Joker asked quietly.

"You pulled me from the acid," Harley answered and looked up at him with big wide eyes.

"Hell, that's a lot of time gone," Joker huffed. "Why didn't you get out of the way faster? Hmm? You just let him electrocute you? For gods sake, Harley!"

"I didn't-"

"Frost said you wanted air and that's where he got ya, I told you to stay with the kids!" Joker said furiously, his voice getting louder until he was shouting.

"P-puddin'-"

"You couldn't even do that! You couldn't even stay in the same room as the kids until I got back! I give you one job, Harley, one job! It's not even a difficult one and you-"

"I don't know what you're talkin' about!" Harley shouted back. Joker stopped and stared at her, he instinctively pulled his arm back to hit her, but somehow stopped himself. He saw fear and confusion and he lowered his hand. He ran his hand through his hair and he grit his teeth together, he looked at the kitchen door for a minute before he looked to Harley. She looked like _his_ Harley, his feisty, passionate, crazed Loony Toon, but her mind was so much younger. So… new.

"I think you need to sleep," Joker said. "It might help your memory come back."

"I… I've let you down already," Harley mumbled. He didn't reply and just stood up. He pulled her too her feet and took her to their bedroom. He watched her eyes widen at the sight of their shared bed and the obvious signs that they spent a lot of time in here together. He remembered their start when he kept her in one of the guest bedrooms. He'd visit her when he wanted sex, then he'd leave her to sleep on his own. If he didn't want her, he'd have groups of hookers to entertain him. But it soon became quite clear that the only one that could actually satisfy him was the feisty harlequin that had hidden in the shadows. He laid her down in the bed and carefully removed her clothes to leave her in her underwear and a t-shirt.

"Mistah J, are they really our kids?" Harley asked.

"Yes. They are," Joker answered. "Can you please sleep?"

"I just… I just feel like there's something missing," Harley mumbled.

"There's a lot missing, princess, but it will come to you," he sighed. "Now, sleep."

He watched her snuggle into the pillows like a child and left the room. He went to check on Frost, Jack and Lucy before he went to the office and watched the CCTV of the altercation on the balcony. There was a camera in the bedroom, but he wasn't sure if it would've caught the action at the doorway. Or if it had even been on. They tended only to use that if they were having a very entertaining night.

His drive out in the town hadn't turned up much, Penguin, Dent and the others hadn't met the invader, but he had a pretty good idea who it could be. It just needed confirming. Once he knew, it meant his contingency plans could be set into action.

He saw the man on the balcony and he had to hand it to Harley for getting the better of him for as long as she had. The guy was almost as good as the Bat, just a bit reckless and he certainly seemed to know that she could pull certain tricks. It was the red hood that struck him. Flashes of long blurred memories hit him and he frowned, ACE chemicals had been boarded up since Harleen had taken her bathe in acid, the tanks drained and the building left to rot. The Red Hood gang he'd once been a part of had disbanded decades ago. So who was this punk?

It wasn't until Joker heard the voice that he knew exactly who it was.

"Shit."

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The years had battered him and he was no longer a good man. Not in the Batman sense of the word. He'd been used a torture toy for far too long to care whether bad guys lived or died. He played the hero by the bad guys' rules and he just didn't care whether it went right or wrong. He didn't care if he died doing it, but these… _people_ needed to be put out of their misery. Put down. Euthanized. Batman wouldn't do it, Superman and the Justice League didn't, so it was down to him. The only one who would gladly watch the menaces and scum of Gotham die. He was so full of anger all the time these days, all he wanted to do was spill the blood of those that had caused him so much pain and that meant Batman too.

He'd learned from Batman, he'd learned from Alfred and he'd done his absolute best to be a Robin that Bruce would be proud of. He'd fought the Joker so many times, on his own, with the Bat. Hell, he'd put Scarecrow and TwoFace away before he'd been considered a hero of his own right. He'd been so good at what he did, he'd taken pride in being a Robin, being _the_ Robin. Hell, he hated Dick Grayson. He hated the shadow that _Nightwing_ had cast, he hated that good old Richard had moved on to his own city to play hero there and he had been kidnapped, tortured and mentally picked apart by two freaks dressed up like Clowns.

He had only been doing what he was supposed to do. He had only meant to catch Harley to lure the Joker into the open to take him to Arkham with her. The Joker had been quiet, he'd not pulled one of his big theatrical games of death for months; he'd been dealing in relatively low level crime and sticking to the club and Penguin's deals. So they'd figured they could drop in and catch them relatively easily. It should've been simple. It should've been done and dusted in minutes, but she tried to escape. Harley ran and tried to hide, he'd chased her on Batman's orders and he'd caught her on Batman's word. But she'd been pregnant and he hadn't believed her.

He'd killed her babies because he was doing as he was told.

Out of some strange sense of conscience, he'd hung around on the roof of the club, wanting to know what happened to Harley and her pregnancy. The moment he heard that the babies had been lost, he ran away. Guilt had filled his body, his mind and soul. They were villains, psychopaths, they took extreme pleasure in the misfortune of others, but the twins had been innocent. Harleen could've been saved with the two babies, but he'd killed them. It had been an accident, he couldn't have known, why would he have trusted Harley Quinn? How was he supposed to have known that she was pregnant?

It didn't matter. It had happened. Then they'd caught him. He'd fallen for an old, lame trick. She'd been disguised and 'trapped' in an alleyway, one of their goons was pretending to assault her and Jason had hopped down from the next roof, beat the man senseless and held his hand out to the damsel in distress. Said 'damsel' cracked him over the head with her concealed _Good Night_ bat, rendering him unconscious. The next thing that Jason had seen was the Joker and Harley leering over him like he was some kind of living doll. The anger, pain and sadness in Harley's eyes would've been too much if she'd been a sane woman, but she projected it more. She carried the weight of loss in her eyes and that alone would've been enough to break him mentally.

It had been bad. Three days of torture from Harley and Joker, mostly with the Queen of Gotham at the helm of his pain. She had been driven by anger and most of his physical scars were from her. The branded J had been from the King himself and it had been repeated over the time that Joker had toyed with him. He'd been kept in the basement of the Club for the first three days and then he'd been moved to an abandoned medical centre. At first he'd thought it was Arkham, but apparently that hadn't been possible. Joker had kept him alive and hidden for 2 years before getting bored of him. The clown had dropped Jason off with one of his goons and he'd been sent to the other side of the country. Mentally destroyed, physically damaged, no one had taken pity on him so he'd had to survive on his own.

Oh how he hated Batman.

Not once had his once friend, father-figure and teacher tried to come to his rescue. Joker had been right, he'd been forgotten. He'd been left for dead by the person that had selected him for the life of a Robin. For two years Joker had trained him, had taught him so much. He hadn't been brainwashed into liking the guy, but he had learned so much more than what Bruce had taught him. When Joker had thrown him out like an out-grown teddy bear, he began to piece together his life and his target was Joker and Harley, but the Bat was a close second and he would have his revenge on the three people responsible for how he had changed.

He knew the two kids would be placed far apart, but with families that were prepared for such difficult children. They had many potential problems, but away from their parents, they would have a much better chance at a normal life. But unlike Batman, he had no problem using the two youngsters against their parents. He had big plans for Joker and Harley Quinn.

Gotham wouldn't forget it was Jason Todd that finally rid the city of the Clowns.

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 _A/N: So the Jason Todd I'm working off is a mix of the Under The Red Hood and the Arkham Knight games._

 _The past has come back to bite them for sure._

 _Please review! :D_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Joker hadn't slept at all that night. He walked around the apartment like a stressed lion. He'd check on the kids and Harley, sit down, stand up, walk around again, take a gulp of whiskey and start the process again. Frost had stayed with him, although had fallen asleep on the sofa for an hour or so before joining in the Clown's routine. He had to get his family somewhere safe and away from whatever was about to happen. Harley had never found out about his keeping of Jason Todd hostage. He'd never let on. All those times where he'd disappeared and left her on strict orders not to leave had been the times where he'd paid Jason a visit. A crust of bread, half a bottle of water and three hours of torture and brain washing later, he'd felt better and returned to his club and the obsessed psychopath that waited there for him.

He'd thought he'd killed Jason. Clearly the kid's blood clotting ability was far superior than he'd given him credit for. Joker had had Jason thrown to the other side of the country to die. Why should he care about it? Batman had never cottoned onto where Jason was and even after trying to fight the still grief-stricken Harley, he hadn't guessed that maybe Jason was alive. Joker had let Harley think she'd killed the Robin, but only to watch her become more confident with her kills.

"Frost, you need to take Harley and the kids out of Gotham in the morning," Joker said finally. He was stood in the doorway to the master bedroom, looking at his sleeping wife.

"Sir?"

"I'll contact Waller and Flag," Joker sighed. "I need to pull a few favours. They need to get out of the city. Somewhere safe. I've got ketamine in my desk to subdue Harley. She won't go easy."

"What are you planning boss?"

"The Red Hood won't hesitate to kill us, I don't know if he'd kill the kids," Joker explained. "The kids need her more than they need me, so you drive them out of Gotham and you keep driving until you get a phone call with the address of the safe house. Keep dosing Harley with Ket until you can strap her down somewhere. Keep her in one room. Do not give her the chance to escape. Take a couple of the boys if you think you'll need it."

"What if she doesn't recover and her memory is gone?" Jonny asked.

"Then you take her life for your own, Frost," Joker said seriously. "If I die, you're in charge of her. If her memory is this weak, she won't know what to do. Make sure I'm dead before you make a move on her though, I don't want to have to kill ya."

"Nah, boss, you don't have to worry about that," Frost replied with a chuckle. "Harley couldn't be further from my type if she tried. Helps that she's got ya name inked on for all to see."

"Good man," Joker laughed. He closed Harley's door behind him and let out a long breath. He didn't want to send them away, but he had to. He wasn't about to let Jason have the thrill of killing Harley and no one was going to hurt his kids. So he continued to pace and check on the doors and windows. He was used to not having any sleep, but this was fuelled by the need to protect what he'd worked so hard to make. He'd never felt this threatened in his own home. Never felt so threatened in his own city. He was normally relaxed, knowing that the intruder would die a vile horrible death. But this was different. This was more dangerous. Jason was too much like the Bat, but with that dash of hatred that separated them. An angry and hateful man could do anything. No one knew that better than Joker.

He still had Flag and Waller to play with, they'd been helpful over the years but now they had to pull their weight. They had to protect his family. He made another circuit around the apartment and this time, he stopped to sit beside Lucy's bed. He did love Jack, but he needed his son to grow up knowing that the world picked favourites and leaders didn't get outright displays of affection. Harley didn't follow that rule, much to Joker's annoyance, but the boy was doing well. Lucy was his baby girl, he'd spent the first months of her life being her primary care giver as Harley was on deaths doorstep and the baby had needed a lot of care too.

"Daddy?" the little girl mumbled and opened her eyes to find him.

"I'm here, baby girl," Joker smiled. She climbed into Joker's arms and snuggled against her father. She was always happier being with him than anywhere else. So he dragged one of her blankets from her bed and wrapped it around her.

"Is momma okay?" Lucy asked.

"Momma's gonna be fine," Joker told her. "Sleep, my little devil, sleep."

Looking back, the signs of Lucy's strange powers had been there from the start. Harley had experienced intense cramping from 10 weeks onwards, the lining of her uterus had shed three times and half the placenta had disintegrated after Lucy had started showing signs of stress. The whole pregnancy had been complicated and difficult. It had taken every strand of Harley's being to birth the child.

 _"_ _I need more blood,"_ _Jonathon Crane ordered one of the poor nurses they'd kidnapped. The spare bedroom was drenched in Harley's blood. Strange was coated in her blood too. Her grip on Joker's hand was limp, Ivy was dripping water into her mouth to try and keep her conscious, but she was fading and fading fast._

 _"_ _Do something, Crane!" Joker shouted. "Do it now!"_

 _"_ _Oh Joker, you know you're going to owe me big time after all of this," Scarecrow smirked._

 _"_ _Can I shoot him now?" Joker asked Ivy._

 _"_ _For Gods sake, save them!" Ivy yelled at both of them. The doctor sneered and attached the new packs of blood into the drip. He dosed her with pain relief and picked up the forceps that one of the nurses offered him._

 _"_ _This is going to sting, but you should be used to pain by now, Harley," Crane said slowly. Harley bit her lip and grunted as he moved the instruments inside to her baby's head. He started to move the infant down and out of Harley's body as she weakly pushed with the contractions. Her pain slowly alleviated and she flopped back against the bed, gasping for air. The seconds turned into hours for Joker and he watched as Scarecrow extracted the child._

 _"_ _Cord's around her neck," he muttered and quickly unwrapped it from around the child's throat. "And… she's lost half of the umbilical cord, which would explain the blood." He pulled the small creature free of its mother's body and immediately handed her to the midwife. The baby's breathing was fast, her heartbeat massively elevated and she needed to be as close to Harley as she could, but Harley was now in even more danger._

 _"Give her to me," Joker demanded and the terrified midwife wrapped the child up and passed her over. Harley lifted her head to see her new born daughter. She smiled weakly and kissed Joker softly before she let out a whimper and she slipped into unconsciousness._

 _"_ _Harley, Harley!" Joker said urgently and shook her, but she didn't respond. Ivy checked her friends pulse and looked to Crane. The doctor paused for a second and sighed._

 _"_ _It's just the blood loss," he said. "She'll come round. She needs the rest of the blood packs, I've given her a few shots of pain relief to try and keep her comfortable. We do have a problem though, I might need some of your… equipment, Joker."_

Joker looked down at his girl and smiled. Her heart had slowed dangerously soon after her abrupt arrival, Harley had retained her placenta and had nearly died from infection. She'd had further complications and it took Lucy far longer to gain weight and routine. Every time one of them made progress, the other became ill again. Joker had balanced his life shockingly well and had managed to be Harley and Lucy's main carer whilst keeping Jack happy and maintaining his business. Frost had been more than helpful and when things finally returned to their 'normal'. Harley had been a great mother again, but she just didn't have a close relationship with Lucy like she had with Jack. But Joker did and he kept hold of that as tightly as he dared.

There were things that had changed in his head, the kids were one of those things. He'd nearly lost Harley after Lucy had been born and he couldn't do that. He couldn't lose her again. So he had to send the three of the away, he had to get them far away from Jason Todd. This was too much of a risk. Gotham had understood after Jack that the Clowns were not to be messed with and no one over stepped the mark without understanding they were going to die.

This time would be no different.

It would just happen without Harley.

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Selina Kyle walked out from her bedroom to the open-plan kitchen-lounge-dining room that served as her flat. She saw Poison Ivy perched on the sofa and she rolled her eyes. She was furious with Harley still and she wasn't going to give Ivy an easy time either. She had to keep Helena a secret from Bruce. He couldn't know that she'd hidden his child from him. She also wasn't going to make her daughter a target for all of the monsters in Gotham. She knew both sides of the city and she didn't want Helena to be caught up in it.

Bruce would be her greatest protector and her greatest threat. It was just better that neither of them knew the other until Helena was old enough to protect herself. Selina's job had just become so much more difficult knowing that Harley had that information. She trusted the former doctor, but she had a big mouth and lack of common sense sometimes and that would be what would get Helena killed. If the Joker found out…

That was something that Selina didn't want to think about.

"So, Harley Quinn knows your little secret and our little triangle of friendship lies in ruins," Ivy hummed. "It seems like a standard Wednesday evening to be honest, Kitty."

"Red, if you're going to be sarcastic, go home," Selina hissed.

"Oh calm down, Selina, you knew she was going to find out sooner or later," Ivy replied and shrugged her shoulders. "I just didn't expect it to be you that told her. I thought you'd ask me to break it too her that she'd been looking after the spawn of Batman."

"Why did I invite you here?"

"Female support," Ivy smirked. "Or to try and get me to take sides and you know that I don't do that. If I do it's normally in support of the third piece of our puzzle. She won't tell Joker. She's got her hands full with Lucy and Jack, she'll forget about Helena before the morning."

"You know that for a fact, Pammy?" Selina snapped. "You know that that mad-man isn't going to come after her? He'd do it just to hurt Br-Batman. I don't believe for one second that he'd turn away from hurting a child, he's not changed that much. He might be protective of his own kids, but he wouldn't think twice about hurting someone else's. If Harley believes that bullshit, that's her own fault."

"Selina, relax, she's probably forgotten it already," Ivy sighed. "If she hasn't, then you just leave Gotham in the morning and disappear for a while again. By the time you come back the Clown won't remember who she is."

"I'm not optimistic like you about this, Ivy," Selina said flatly. "I'm sure he knows already."

"If he did, he'd be here," Ivy replied. "So, tell me, what have you been up to in your little safe house? You can't keep your paws in one house for any amount of time, so what have you been doing to keep yourself busy?"

"There's plenty of museums and art galleries around the country that have had things go missing," Selina chuckled. "Keeps me out of Gotham, I wouldn't necessarily say it keeps me out of trouble. But Helena's always safe. I'd stay, but it's just too risky."

They chatted and fell into a comfortable silence, totally unaware as to what was going on across the city with Harley's attack and lack of memory. Selina was just starting to relax and let her fears dissipate when there was a crack from her bedroom. She spun round and both she and Ivy were on their feet in a split second. Selina crept towards the door and she peered into the darkness. She saw a large shadowy figure and frowned. She turned on the light and jumped forward, clawing at the mask.

"Play nice kitty or the kid loses an arm," the Red Hood chuckled and he elbowed Selina to the side.

"I know that voice," Catwoman muttered.

"Yeah, you do, you should know it well," the man said slowly. "You should all recognise me. You will do. All of you will recognise me and thank me for what I'm going to do!" He pulled a gun from his pocket and fired it twice. It wasn't a proper bullet, but a small electrical device that would keep both Ivy and Catwoman stuck in one place for him to fade into the night. He picked up Helena and threw her over his shoulder. He turned to leave but Catwoman tackled him and scratched her claws at the screen of his mask.

"Gonna take more than an electric shock to get me, kid," Selina hissed and pulled Helena free. She kicked and punched at the masked man and forced him against the window. Red Hood launched forward and made a grab at Selina's throat, she ducked but he managed to get a hold of the top of her leather outfit.

"You're going to remember me, Kitty Kat," Red Hood snarled. "You and your deluded boyfriend. Question is, who should tell Batman about his daughter? Me or you?"

"You leave Batman outta this," Selina said lowly.

"Batman is the cause of all of this!" Red Hood laughed. "All of what's about to happen is because of Batman, Joker and Harley Quinn!" He threw Cat to the floor and went to kick her, but one of Ivy's vines shot forward and pushed him from the window. She arched back violently and broke free of the electric that the device emitted.

"You okay, Red?" Selina asked and looked round to her friend. She scooped Helena up into her arms and cuddled her daughter close.

"Who was that?"

"I don't know," Selina answered. "I feel like I know him. The voice is familiar, but… like someone's grown up. I just can't quite place it."

"I'm going to Harley," Ivy said. "I need to know she's okay. If that madman is going after her… I have to go and make sure that the kids and her are okay and safe."

"I don't know if she'll want to talk to you after this afternoon, Red," Selina sighed.

"I don't care," Ivy told her. "I suggest you go to see Batman. Tell him about Helena before that guy does."

"You don't know him like I do, he's going to be so… angry," Selina mumbled.

"Obviously. You've hidden his daughter from him for five years, he has every right to be angry," Ivy nodded. "But he's also the only person that can protect her from this… Red Hood guy. Go, Cat, take my car. I'll head straight to Harley's." She brushed herself down and then checked her vines over like they were her pets. Selina watched her for a second before she threw some of Helena's things in a bag and the three of them headed down to Ivy's car. Selina didn't even say goodbye to Ivy, she just took off.

"Rude," Ivy huffed and she started to walk towards the club. Selina cut through Gotham's traffic and sped passed a few cops. She didn't care in the slightest. She had other priorities than protecting Bruce's and her own identity. Rain splattered on the windscreen and she grit her teeth. Why did it always rain over Gotham?!

Eventually, she pulled up outside the main gates to Wayne Manor. She felt bile rise in her throat and she closed her eyes for a second. She was rarely nervous, but this… this wasn't an art gallery heist gone wrong, this was so much bigger and it would change everything between them. She waited for the gates to open and she slowly made her way to the front door. She saw Alfred stood in the door and she groaned.

"Gee, Alfie, couldn't take the night off, could you?" Selina muttered. She got out of the car and approached Alfred.

"Master Wayne has already retired for the night-"

"Well, wake him up, it's important," Selina said. "Really important. He might hate me as much as you do after this. Then you'll get your dream of getting rid of me and Bruce settling down with another woman."

Alfred paused and considered her words. His eyes then fell onto her car and he spotted a little black haired child. He looked between the girl and Selina before he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

"Master Bruce has an heir?" Alfred asked.

"Please get him, Alfred," Selina replied. "She's in danger."

"Come in then, can't leave a Wayne out in the car," Alfred huffed. Selina took Helena from the car and held her hand tightly. They walked into Wayne Manor and Alfred showed them to a large study that had a fire blazing on the far wall. Selina let Helena wander around whilst she waited. When she heard footsteps coming, she waved her daughter over and sat Helena on the sofa. The door opened and Bruce walked in, just wearing sweat pants and his hair ruffled.

"Bit late for a work out, Bruce," Selina smirked.

"What do you want, Selina?" Bruce asked calmly. "Alfred said you had something important to talk about."

"There's someone in Gotham coming after you and the Clowns," Selina started. "But he's already tried to take someone that could be used against you as a weapon or blackmail. I've been in and out of the city for the last five years because… I was pregnant and, well, this is your daughter. Helena." She stepped to the side and allowed Bruce to see the girl. She watched as his eyes flashed dangerously, but he seemed to get stuck on the child for a few minutes.

"Bruce?"

"She's not mine," Bruce muttered.

"She is," Selina told him. "I didn't want to hide her, but I didn't want her in Gotham. I should've told you, I know Bruce, but-"

"You've done some things to keep me onside before, Selina," Bruce interrupted, his voice low and cold. "But this? This is low even for you."

"She's yours," she told him again. She saw his belt on the side and she grabbed the tranquiliser gun. She knew it could also test various substances, it would show him that Helena's DNA was his. She took some of her daughter's blood, the child caused minimal fuss and after a few minutes of unbearable silence, it beeped up.

"See."

Bruce looked at the reading's and then to the child. He knelt down in front of Helena and looked at her face and eyes. He was confused and angry. She was his child, but how could Selina have lied? How could she have kept her from him? He knew Gotham wasn't all that safe for either of them, but at the same time… he could've kept both of them safe. He pushed a lock of hair behind Helena's ear and the little girl smiled at him.

"Who's this guy who broke into your place?" Bruce asked.

"I don't know, I couldn't get the mask off," Selina sighed. "He's already paid Joker and Harley Quinn a visit, said something about watching the kids and now he's tried to snatch Helena. He's got a grudge against you three. The voice was familiar but the only person it came close to was… but he died years ago."

"Let me have a look at the CCTV around your place, you and Helena can stay here," Bruce told her. Selina knew it wasn't an offer or suggestion, he wasn't going to let them go and that made Selina feel trapped and prickly. Her phone started to ring and she saw it was Ivy.

"Red, what's wrong?"

 _"_ _It's Harley, whoever that man is, he's taken Harley."_ Ivy shouted down the phone. _"Joker's lost it, he's going to burn Gotham to the ground to find her."_

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 _A/N: Please review!_


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: So we're sort of half-way through. There's a lot coming for all the characters involved. Poor clowns.  
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Chapter 5

Harley had slept well and bits of her memory were coming back slowly. She remembered being zapped by some guy in a rip-off Batman suit, the birth of her kids and most of her relationships. But she was hazy. It didn't help that she was being transported, her hands cuffed behind her back and her legs tied together with what felt like zip ties. Her eyes were covered by a black material and her cheek was pressed against metal. As she'd woken, she'd managed to keep her breathing steady, so if there were any people around her they wouldn't notice her awake state. They were in either a large van or small lorry and it definitely sounded like the exhaust had a problem of some kind.

All this information would be useful, if she couldn't escape herself, it would lead Joker too her if she could get word out. She just had to keep her head in the game and she'd be fine. She wondered if this would help with her bloodlust issue, but right now, she had to play along with this game. After another hour, the vehicle came to a stop and she felt hands on her body. She wanted to lash out, but knew she had to keep still and calm to convince her abductor that she was still unconscious. The stench of fish wafted into her nostrils and she tried hard not to gag. She hated fish with a passion. The person hauled her over his shoulder and she felt hard metal plates dig into her bared abdomen and thighs. They hadn't even had the decency to dress her before kidnaping her. _Sheesh, hate to be this guy's girlfriend,_ Harley chuckled in her head.

"Hang her up over there," the only familiar voice said. She felt herself be thrown against a wall and her back scraped against the rough edges of brick and concrete. She grunted from the impact and gave up on her pretence of being unconscious. Her hands were wrenched above her head, which pulled her up onto the balls of her feet. A fist punched into her gut and she let out a small noise of pain, but started to laugh.

 _"_ _Always laugh in the face of your enemy, princess."_ Joker had told her long ago when her pale bleached skin was free of ink and scars.

"Harleen Quinzel, such a shame," Red Hood said slowly. "You gave up your life for a guy who wouldn't give you a second of his."

"God you sound like my mother," Harley giggled. "You give up your life for the same guy. Actually, it's more of a party isn't it? You're sneakin' around Gotham with a stupid Bat-suit-"

"It's not a Bat-suit!"

"It's got a blood red bat on the front, it's a Bat-suit," Harley grinned. Another punch to her gut and a knife dug into her shoulder. She grit her teeth and made herself laugh again. She wouldn't show this douche any weaknesses. She wasn't the Joker's girl for nothing. "You're comin' after, Mistah J, me and the Batman. Now, I'd be lyin' if I said I wasn't interested in that party, especially as I have apparently slept with Bruce Wayne and he is Bats-"

"Shut up you stupid bitch!"

"Temper, temper," Harley smirked. His hand went around her throat and he cut off her air supply. She damn near rolled her eyes, her neck was pretty, but what was it about her throat that invited the people in her life to grab it. Not that she minded Mistah J-

 _"_ _Harley! Focus!"_ Harleen shouted in her mind.

Harley's head was starting to swim and for a fleeting moment, she was a bit concerned that this Red Hood guy wasn't going to release his grip. But then he'd have no leverage over Mistah J, so she managed to stay calm despite her brain begging her too fight. Finally the hand left her throat and the bag was ripped from her head. Harley coughed and spluttered a little bit before she caught her breath and her heart started to return back to normal.

"Ha ha! That's so cute. You think you're scary, mister," Harley gasped. "But I've seen scary, I've lived with it, I've loved it and you ain't got his smile."

"So when I steal your son and I spill his blood so Gotham never has to put up with another Joker," Red Hood started. "When I shoot your daughter so Gotham never has to deal with another psychotic sympathiser like you, you'll just giggle and laugh?"

"Well you just said I don't know love, so I doubt I'd be too upset," Harley said thoughtfully.

"Do you remember how heartbroken you were the first time you were pregnant?" Red Hood hummed. "When you had your twins."

Harley fell silent.

"You thought he would kill you," Red Hood taunted. "You weren't going to tell him. You were going to hide with Poison Ivy, give the baby away and then come back. You feared for your life and the life of your child. You knew he would either kill you, or make you miscarry. You knew that he would not welcome you back still pregnant."

"He did."

"Because he sought an heir and he was going to have two," Red Hood replied with a smirk. He moved closer, into her personal space and her fierce angry eyes met his. "He wouldn't have had any need for you if you had kept them. He would've thrown you aside once they weren't dependent on you. You know it."

"You're really startin' to get on my nerves," Harley told him. "Y'know, if you were tryin' to flirt, you coulda just sent chocolate and flowers. I mean, the blindfolds, handcuffs, chains and kidnappin'? This is pretty much all foreplay for me and Mistah J."

Red Hood moved away and took off his mask. Harley frowned, what kind of hero was he? Taking off his mask was just a rookie move, she'd know who he was and-

"You're dead. I killed you," Harley said loudly. Her heart skipped a couple of beats as she took in the guy's appearance. She'd put a bullet in his chest. She'd wanted one in the middle of his face, but J had said the Batman wouldn't recognise his little broken birdy. She'd pulled the trigger and heard his breath leave his body. She was sure he'd been dead. There was no way he could've survived the amount of blood they'd drained from him, let alone a bullet.

"Jason Todd." Harley muttered. "Who saved you? Who did it?"

"Joker," Jason smirked. "He kept me alive for two whole years."

"You're lying."

"Am I? So why is he so jumpy about a guy in a red hood?" Jason chuckled. "He left you and the children as easy targets so he could drive around and ask about a new vigilante in Gotham. How are the memories, coming back?"

"Why did you do that?"

"Because making you forget him, is going to be so much fun," Jason told her. "Making you forget him, is going to hurt him so much more than he will ever admit. His little dance with your brain back in Arkham means it won't take much to remove all of your memory entirely. Leave you sat in a chair as you can't work your arms or legs, watch your dear children beg mommy for hugs and kisses and she can't even remember how to comfort them."

"You leave my kid's outta this!" Harley shouted.

"I was a kid!"

"You were runnin' around with the Bat," Harley snarled. "You punched and kicked my belly and you caused me to lose my two perfect babies. I told you I was pregnant, I begged you to stop and you didn't listen. You laughed and tried to drag me to the Bat's stupid plane thing. You made my two healthy, strong babies die. You deserved everything that happened to you. No one hurts any of my babies and gets away with it."

"No one hurts my baby and gets away with it," a female voice said from the shadows. Harley peered into the darkness and frowned. She pressed her lips together and tried to figure out who the shadowy figure was. The woman walked forward and somewhere in her mind, Harley did recognise her. But her memories were still fuzzy.

"Did I rob ya?"

"You took the love of my life and you mutilated her," Michaela snapped. "Samantha Drake."

"Aww, Sammie! She was one of my favourites," Harley nodded. "Shame she fell in love with me. We could've kept her as a toy if she'd just kept her emotions of herself."

Michaela landed a punch to Harley's cheek and she screamed in fury and rage. Harley shook her head and blinked before looking at the pair of them. She started to laugh again as she realised what they were going to do. They were trying to lure the Joker and they were going to use her as bait.

"He won't come," Harley told them. "You know he won't come. He doesn't care about me that much. He'll make sure the children are okay and then he'll leave. Holdin' me here will only make him more likely to disappear."

"He will," Michaela said. "I've lived half a mile from your disgusting shithole of a club, I've watched you. He will come. He cares about you too much."

"We'll find out won't we?" Harley smirked. "Because I'm really good at waitin'. I'm really good at takin' pain. We'll still be doin' this two years down the line."

"No we won't, because you'll do it for us," Jason smiled. It sent chills through Harley, but not actual fear. They couldn't do anything to her that the Joker hadn't prepared her for or had already done himself. She watched Jason as he walked to a metal table on the other side of the room. He returned with a filled syringe and he brandished it at her.

"Now this, is a little gift courtesy of Scarecrow," he told her. "A little dose of something that you've done to Gotham."

"Bring it bitch," Harley giggled. "You can't do anythin' worse to me than what you've already done."

"Would you like the first go, my dear?" Jason said to Michaela.

"This is for Sam." The Police woman snarled and shoved the needle into Harley's neck.

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The Joker slammed his foot down on the gas pedal in his car. The trunk was full with several guns, plenty of ammo, a flame thrower, bombs and various comedy pieces like his explosive can of worms, the Hyenas were sat on the back seat. He couldn't believe that Harley had been taken from right under his nose, he'd been too busy settling Jack and Lucy back down after they'd both woken with nightmares again. He'd left them with Frost, looked into his bedroom and saw the balcony doors smashed and Harley gone. There were no signs of a struggle, which meant she was unconscious.

Then Ivy had turned up. His fury and rage exploded and after an argument, Ivy had stormed out and Joker had called all of his henchmen to protect his kids and he'd gone after Harley. He couldn't let the Red Hood get away with this. He couldn't let any of them get away with this. Harley was his, not anyone else's. He wasn't going to start letting anyone just take her. The only one that got to hurt her, touch her, threaten her or otherwise was him. Only him. He was the only one in control of her life, even if she didn't realise it.

He'd changed how he did control her. He used the kids. He used her strong instinctual need to mother against her. He kept her a prisoner in their own home because Gotham was just too dangerous. The kids would need her more than him if one of them were to be fatally injured, taken to Arkham or used as ransom. His reasons to manipulate her had changed, but it was a habit he couldn't quite break. He controlled her fears about losing the children to the Bat, he controlled her money so she couldn't spend too much at any one time, he did it all. But it was to protect Jack and Lucy. He didn't raise his hand as much as before, but when he did, it had bigger impact and she fell back into line quicker. He expected dinner to be ready when he got home, he wanted her to make breakfast when she woke up, the housework to be done and the kids to be dressed and happy. It kept her too busy to contemplate going out on heists. He'd taken her with a few times on low-risk outings and it had been like old times, a little bit of bloodshed, cunning and law-breaking set them both on fire, but after a couple of close calls with Batman, he couldn't risk it. Couldn't risk _her._

And now she was gone.

Amanda Waller had called her up a couple of times for Task Force X, Harley had enjoyed it all far too much and her relationship with Deadshot had become stronger. Joker hated being a jealous man when it came to Harley, but he couldn't help it. She was his prized possession, his toy. His… wife, mother of his children and that put her above Batman these days. So when she went out with the Squad, she came back buzzing with social interaction and relieved of a little bit of stress. So he doubled down on her cleaning and work for the day. He had to keep her. He couldn't let her go. No way.

"Come on, Harls, let me find you," he growled. He hit the brake and screeched to a halt. He got out of the car and went to get a bomb. He looked at the ACE Chemical building and crept inside. Memories raced through him, he'd been at the brink here so many times before. Once had turned him into the man he was now, then it had been Harleen's turn and she'd been banished to the back of Harley's mind. He had meant to let her drown. But he hadn't, he'd saved her and scooped her out of the same acid to make her into his pretty pet. He stared at the long empty vats and stroked his hand over one of them before he placed the bomb. He turned on the detonator and made his way out of the building. It was old, it needed bringing to the ground. No one else could have the legacy that he and Harley would leave behind.

He pressed the detonator and watched the plant explode into a million pieces. The heat of fire made his skin warm and his heart felt heavy with anger. He watched the old panels burn and crumble for a few minutes before he went back to the car and drove away. The image of burning ACE Chemicals in his rear view mirror lit a hatred in him that he hadn't felt for so long and it was time to let it loose. The building beside ACE also blew up and he let out a loud laugh as people ran screaming. He drove through Gotham to Harleen's old apartment block. He walked into the block and up the stairs, the Hyena's on his heels, a machine gun slung over his shoulder. He kicked open doors and fired shoots randomly at people before letting the Hyena's have some fun. He painted the walls with blood and moved on to the next apartment. By the time he got to Harleen's old place, 20 people were dead and more were running away screaming.

The Hyena's went crazy as they went into the apartment. They could pick up a very faint trace of their mother and couldn't find her. So they started ripping apart the ancient furniture and scratched at the carpet. Joker watched them for a minute before he ransacked the place. He blew holes in the wall with his gun, ripped the haggard curtains from the windows and smashed the bathroom to pieces. He went into the bedroom and saw the small single bed. He'd been there once. It had been the most uncomfortable night of his life. So he set the mattress on fire. He walked out the apartment, called the hyenas and headed down the stairs again. He stood outside and watched black smoke billow out from her old apartment.

"Good riddance," Joker smirked. He looked at the blood on his jacket, hands and sleeves and he threw his head back with a cackle. "Boys! Get in the car you stupid mutts." He opened the door and Bud and Lou jumped in and sat themselves down on the seats. Over the next hour, he planted bombs at various buildings, museums, art galleries and even tried to get to the newly built Arkham Asylum. He could see vines wrapping around taller buildings in Gotham and he rolled his eyes. Ivy was never one for subtlety.

As Joker drove up to the Wayne Industries sky scraper, he felt something land on the roof of his car. He stamped on the brake again and saw Batman fly in front of the car. He pulled the hand brake and once the car was motionless, he got out of it and slammed the door behind him.

"What is _your_ problem?" Joker said lowly.

"You're burning down Gotham," Batman growled.

"And?" Joker chuckled. "I'm busy, I'm looking for something."

"For Harley," Batman said. "Catwoman-"

"Oh, Ivy told Catwoman about Harley and she told you, I'm so glad," Joker hissed. "What you are not doing, is helping me find her. So get out of my way-"

"I'm not going to let you kill more people!" Batman shouted.

"Ooh, look at the big scary Batman and his widdle toys," Joker said mockingly before he laughed and shook his head. "No, sorry, Bats, I'm not buying it. You'll love who has her, though, you're just going to… die."

"Who's got her?" Batman demanded.

"Why would I tell you, Bats, when he's gonna introduce himself to you?" Joker cackled. "Or should I say, re-introduce himself to you?"

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Jason watched as hours of torture came to a simpering end. He walked around the collapsed heap of a woman and resisted the urge to spit on her. There were some things he wouldn't stoop to and even though she would've done worse to him, he would wait to say that his revenge was finished. This was only the beginning, he would reign terror down on the clowns, he would render Gotham speechless as he proved that only he was brave enough to do the right thing for the city and rid it of the Joker and Harley Quinn. He'd long sent Michaela away so she could resume snooping around in the GCPD records for him, he'd wanted some private time with Harley and he couldn't do that with someone else around. He knelt beside the blonde woman's head and, with a fistful of hair, he wrenched her head upwards. She let out a blood curdling scream and he slapped her across the cheek hard.

"Tell me your name!" Jason bellowed.

"You're hurtin' me!" she screamed back at him.

"What's your name?" Jason growled.

"Harley… Harley Quin-zel," she sobbed. "Please, stop, please let me go."

Jason smirked and stood up. He dosed another syringe with Fear Toxin, shot it into her system and slung the woman over his shoulder. He put her in a van and drove across town. He saw the destruction that Joker had created and couldn't help but laugh. He watched the cops chase through the city, making sure that civilians were okay, letting Batman deal with the Clown. He pulled up in front of Harley's club and dropped her off on the curb. She pulled herself into a foetal position, tears streaking down her face as her nightmares once more came back to life. Rain drenched through the flimsy shirt she wore and soaked her skin.

"With any luck you'll catch hypothermia," Jason sneered. "Say hello to Joker for me."

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 _A/N: Please review guys! The more reviews the faster the chapters come!_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Joker watched as the sun rose over a burning Gotham, smoke billowed from various buildings and Fire trucks and cops cars darted around to get people to safety. He'd lost Batman a few hours ago as he'd gone to save lives, not that that bothered Joker any more. His purpose was greater than Batsy boy now. He hadn't found Harley yet, but he'd gotten Frost to prepare the getaway car anyway – even if Harley remained hidden, the kids were leaving first thing in the morning. He could always send Harley to Frost later on and then dispose of Red Hood once and for all. Maybe he'd keep Harley back just to punish her a little for not fighting back in the first place, but the he didn't really want the kids to see her covered in bruises.

He started the car and took to driving back through the smoky streets. He knew Batman would start his search once the GCPD and the rest of their toy soldiers had control over the fires and swarms of terrified people. It wasn't as pleasing as he'd hoped. It wasn't as satisfying to watch the ants run for their lives without his side-kick and her mallet or bat. He looked upwards when he heard a strange creaking noise and saw Ivy's vines crumple one of the sky scrapers. Sometimes she provided small rushes of entertainment, but that felt all too rare. He was heading towards the Club when he saw a flash of blue swoop overhead.

"Ah, so he's called for reinforcements," Joker grinned. "Where's the new baby bird, then?"

The New Robin, all though he'd been working with Batman for a few years now, was a sassy little kid. Much like Nightwing had been, but quicker and a bit punchier. He was quite the capable fighter, but got cocky quite rapidly. He had enjoyed playing with the new Robin when Batman had been busy with his so-called _Justice League_ , but nothing was the same as the big man himself. The thought of Batman not being able to handle this and calling in his friends, made the Joker cackle loudly. He checked his mirrors, just in case anyone was trying to tail him and to his delight, no one in sight.

His phone started to ring and he looked at the screen, _Frost_. He pressed the answer button and put the device to his ear, keeping his eyes open for the Bat-Kids.

"Boss, you need to get back to the club," Frost said. There was screaming in the back ground, someone was being hurt. But it sounded familiar…

"Why? Who have you tortured to make that noise, Frost?" Joker demanded with a growling voice.

"It's… it's Harley, she's… she's not good," Jonny said quietly. "She won't stop screaming, won't let me anywhere near her. She's got burn marks on her temples-"

"I'm on my way, don't touch her, don't go near her," Joker barked. He stamped down on the gas pedal and headed straight to the club. He saw Harley crumpled on the floor, barely dressed and he could hear her screaming from inside the car. He pulled the handbrake and jumped out of the car a split second after it came to a stop. He walked over and knelt beside her. He touched her chin and lifted it so her eyes could see his face.

"No." She whispered. "Don't touch me! Get off me!" She lashed out and scratched at his face. He grabbed her wrists and wrestled with her as she kicked out him.

"Harley!" Joker shouted angrily.

"Get off me!" She screeched. "Get off! Help! Someone, anybody, help!"

"Shut up!" Joker snarled. He grabbed her wrists with one hand and the other slapped over her mouth. Her knees and shins were pressed against his abdomen and he could feel her muscles preparing to kick him away. He saw unadulterated fear in her eyes, they were clouded with some kind of drug and he knew exactly which one.

"What did he do to you?" Joker demanded and let go of her mouth.

"He showed me the monster that you are!" Harley spat at him. "He showed me what you've done to me and my babies. How dare you! How dare you kidnap us! My husband will be here and-"

" _I am_ your husband!" Joker yelled. He'd had enough. He needed to think. He felt her push her legs against his abdomen and he jumped to his feet. Harley scrambled up, without any of her gymnastic grace or elegance, and she tried to run away but Joker caught her and with a hit to the side of her head, he rendered her unconscious. He scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder, he marched into the club, Jonny parked the car and Joker took Harley up to the apartment.

He laid her out on the bed before he ran a hot bath. He then took his time slowly washing her, making sure she didn't have any other bruises or scrapes than what he'd seen. There were slight burn marks on either side of her head and he grit his teeth, electrical burns. He very carefully washed her little body, a familiar action after the years they'd spent together. He did occasionally enjoy caring for her, but not like this. He'd picked her up and washed away blood from wounds he'd inflicted, that the Bat had inflicted and many others. He'd washed her after losing their twins, after Belle Reve and Griggs, after Jack and Lucy had been born and a few other times. He dried her body and hair, dressed her in shorts and a big pink baggy t-shirt and placed her back on the bed. He heard a knock on the door and he looked round to see Frost stood in the doorway.

"I called Ivy, she's on her way," Jonny said gently.

"Dammit, Frost, why can't you leave me to deal with this-"

"She might have an antidote for the fear toxin, boss," Jonny interrupted. He never interrupted, he waited for the boss to calm down before explaining further, or he just walked away and did whatever the Boss said to do for punishment. But this was a different matter. The game had changed and this Red Hood guy was too much of a threat to go by their normal codes of conduct.

"When this is all over, Jonny my boy, you are going to regret doing that," Joker snarled.

"I know," Frost admitted. "I been loyal to you for years, decades, Boss. You got somethin' good goin' with Harley these days, the kids and… all of it. I ain't never crossed you, I ain't never gone against your decisions, I've worked my ass off day and night to do what you told me to do and I've always done it. You've always been good to me too, J, you gave me a chance when no one else would. You let me go up the ranks to where I am now. But I ain't gonna let your jealousy over Ivy and Harley's relationship ruin what ya got with ya girl."

Silence. He was met with deadly silence.

The one thing worse than a laughing clown was a silent one.

"Jonny?" the woman in the bed mumbled as she came too. Joker's head snapped round and he saw fear in her eyes once more as she scrambled away from him. She fell off the side of the bed and hauled herself to her feet. She looked between the Joker and Frost and made a dash to the man in a suit. Jonny was flustered as she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face against his chest.

"Oh god, Jonny, I didn't think I'd see you again," Harley cried.

"Eh… Harley?" Jonny mumbled and held his hands away from her. "What's… what's going on?"

"Did you find our children?" Harley asked. "Oh god, I don't know where they are, did you find them?"

"Our…" Jonny muttered and looked to Joker. _Ah shit,_ Jonny cursed in his head.

"They are _our_ children," Joker growled. His anger bristling again as he processed the words that had come from Harley's mouth. His eyes snapped back to Jonny.

"I swear to god, boss, I swear on my life," Jonny told him calmly, his hands still as far away from Harley as he could. The cold look in Joker's eyes was enough to send Jonny back to his days of being a goon. Begging never ended well, you ended up owing the Joker more than years of service, but he wasn't about to get killed for this.

"Swear on something that matters," Joker snarled.

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Bruce stood on top of the GCPD, waiting for Nightwing, Robin and Jim Gordon to come back. He looked over the city to see the smoke starting to thin out, fewer emergency vehicles were around and the sirens died down. He'd lost Joker a few hours back, he had to help the people whose lives were at risk, he couldn't do that whilst trying to arrest the Clown. He heard Jim walk out of the stairway and seconds later Tim and Dick joined him.

"Ivy's retreating, no sign of Harley, Joker or even Catwoman," Dick said.

"We… we couldn't save everyone," Tim said quietly. "But we did our best."

"And that's all anyone can ask, Robin," Jim replied. "And you, Nightwing, if it wasn't for you guys and Batman, we'd have lost so many more people. Who was he looking for anyway? Harley?"

"Yes," Bruce answered. "Look, we've got a couple of problems. You won't find Selina Kyle being a problem. She's… she's at Wayne mansion. There's been a change of plans. Someone came to Gotham to wreak revenge on Joker and Harley Quinn, he tried to kidnap my… my daughter from Selina's home, he's also kidnapped Quinn. That's why the Joker started one of his rampages. He couldn't find her and he couldn't cope with her being taken right under his nose."

"Did that bastard tell you who this new vigilante is?" Jim asked.

"Your daughter?" Tim said with a slightly dropped jaw.

"No, but I'll find out soon apparently," Bruce sighed. "Selina seemed to think it was Jason Todd's voice-"

"But he's been dead for years," Dick interrupted. "He… the Joker and Harley killed him."

"His body was buried," Tim nodded. "But your kid-"

"No, a body was buried," Jim explained. "It fit Jason's description of height, weight and build, but the body was too disfigured to confirm."

"DNA?" Tim pushed.

"Jason wasn't found, Tim," Batman said. "But we had to bury somebody. All of Gotham knew about Robin's disappearance."

"Why did they go for him, anyway?" Dick asked. "You never told me the full story."

"Jason was a good Robin, but he was… angry and hard headed," Bruce said. "We had leads to Joker for a few bank robberies, a couple of jewellery heists and we went to arrest them. We hadn't had any leads for Harley, but where he goes, she follows like a kicked puppy. So we went to his club, I apprehended Joker and I sent Jason after Harley. We hadn't seen her for months, she'd dropped off the radar and I didn't think there could be any reason. So I got the Joker in cuffs, took him up to the roof to put him in the Batwing and Harley was on a heap on the floor screaming at Jason. He'd fought with her, he… She lost twins. He didn't believe her when she told him, he blamed himself. He sat on the roof, listening in to what was happening in the apartment. He didn't sleep for days. Joker and Harley disappeared for a couple of weeks until the day they abducted Jason and then they killed him."

"Jeez…" Dick muttered. "That sucks, even for them."

"Harley fell off the rails, she couldn't cope with the grief," Bruce continued. "She turned to drugs, Joker killed a lot of people, then got her cleaned up and they carried on like it had never happened. It's why she went into Arkham when she found out she was pregnant with their eldest. Figured she was safer there than in her home."

"You still think that she could be saved, don't you?" Tim asked. "You've got that look, that 'she just needs help' look. That 'there's still a bit of Harleen in there' look that you always get when you've crossed paths. Bruce, some people can't be saved and she's got kids with that… freak now."

"All the more reason to try whenever we can," Dick told Tim. "The Joker may not be saved, but we know that Harleen is still in Harley's head. So… what's the plan? Are we going to search for Joker and Harley again? Or wait for one of them to surface?"

"We all need to rest, it's been a long night," Batman said. "Whoever has Harley won't kill her, he'll be trying to get Joker to act rashly, trying to set him up for a big fall. We have time to rest."

"And Selina?" Jim asked. "She's got your daughter."

"Helena, her names Helena," Bruce told them. "I've told Selina they're to stay in the manor until I know it's safe. Then we can decide what happens next, this Red Hood vigilante knows that Helena exists and would use her against me. They do not leave."

"Sure thing," Dick nodded and he looked sharply at Tim. Robin sighed and nodded. He didn't like this any more than the rest of them, but he was also the most likely to say exactly how he felt about a situation.

"If you hear anything going on, let me know," Jim said lowly. "I'll keep my guys out in cars spotting for anything. If we find Harley… what do you want us to do?"

"Take her to Joker. It might stop the violence," Batman replied. "See you soon, Jim."

Bruce called the Bat Wing and climbed into the plane as it reached the roof of the GCPD. Tim and Dick followed suit and they headed back to the Batcave. The city seemed more peaceful, so he hoped that Joker had at least gone to re-group if he hadn't found his wife already. He didn't trust the calm, he didn't like it, but they all needed to rest and he had to check on his daughter.

His daughter.

They got to the Batcave with Bruce paying very little attention to Dick, Tim, and Barbara on the comms unit or even the fact he was home. He got out of the Bat wing and took off his cowl, he placed it on the desk and he pressed a few buttons to turn on the security cameras around the mansion. He could see Helena and Selina in the kitchen, the little girl was giggling and Selina was doing some kind of dance to get the child to eat her breakfast.

"She looks like you," Barbara said as she approached. "Like, in a really cute feminine way."

"Hey, what're you doing here?" Dick asked and leaned down and kissed her quickly.

"Dick, stop," Barbara smiled. "I came to check on Bruce, Alfred told me about the child and obviously I knew about what was happening with Joker. I thought we could do the 'united front' thing."

"Thank you for your concern, Barb, I'm fine," Bruce said and stared at the screen for a few more seconds before turning them off. "I'll program the computer to alert us if any more fires start. He seems to have gone quiet for now."

"Bruce?" Selina shouted as she walked into the Batcave. "Bruce, did you find Harley?"

"No," Bruce told her. He went to speak again, but he was stopped by the computer flashing a red warning light and the screen flickering. Bruce turned to face it and Barbara immediately started hammering on the keyboard trying to figure out the problem.

"Well hello, Brucie," the Red Hood said from the screen. "Now, a little birdy told me that you haven't figured out who I am yet. I thought my disguise was good too. I'm going to assume that you know why the Clown's been destroying the city?"

"You have Harley," Bruce said flatly.

"Had, Bats, _had_ ," Red Hood chuckled. "I've given Harley a little… brain storm or ten. She needed her priorities reorganising, I just helped her along. But I've returned her to her Clown, I don't think he'll be too pleased though."

"What have you done?"

"I've done her a favour!" Red Hood snapped angrily. "I've changed her mind so she thinks her two awful children belong to Jonny Frost, she sees the Joker for the monster he is and she believes she's still a doctor at Arkham. A little bit of Fear Toxin goes a long way. Now. Who's this pretty little thing?"

"No," Selina hissed as the camera moved to Helena.

"That's right, I'm upstairs," Red Hood laughed. "And now I have your precious little daughter. What should I do to her, hmm? Take her and fashion her into my sidekick? Hand her over to Joker? Shoot her?"

"You leave her alone!" Selina shouted.

"Aww, Kitty Kat's all wound up," Red Hood said. "You… This all ends with someone's blood, Bruce. Yours, mine, the Clowns… You always taught me that I could do anything I wanted if I put my mind to it and now… I want you, the Joker and Harley fucking Quinn, dead."

"Not going to happen," Batman told him. "I will stop you."

"Yeah? You've gotta find me first," Red Hood smirked. The computer flashed off and all the power was cut off in the Batcave and the Manor.

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 ** _Please Review!_**


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: Guys, I'm so so sorry. I took a couple days break as this chapter really didn't know what it wanted to be and wrote Easter Bunny and Trials and Tribulations, but came back and this chapter still didn't know what it wanted to be. I'm so so sorry! I shouldn't have a problem with the next chapter, I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I updated this!_

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Chapter 7

Jonny Frost was considering just disappearing into the night and not coming back, everything had gotten worse and Joker was getting out of control again. Jonny wasn't sure what the Red Hood had done to Harley, but it had left him with a very big problem that was most likely going to cause his death. The woman was terrified of Joker and violent towards him. So it meant that she was in one of the spare rooms and Jonny had no option but to stay with her. He'd started by staying sat on the chair in the corner of the room, but Harley had begged him closer. Then he'd dragged it to the side of the bed and held her hand, but she damn near pulled him in the bed too. So, in the end with Joker's very reluctant blessing, he was laid on the bed, above the covers, his hands clasped together and his eyes staring directly at the ceiling.

Of all the years of almost hating Harley, he'd never thought it would come to this, being the only one she trusted. Joker wasn't taking it well, of course Jonny didn't expect him too. Even after his of denying any feelings for Harley since he'd found her, Joker was far too possessive and in love with her for him to feel okay about this. So Jonny was keeping his hands as much to himself as he could, he knew Joker would make him pay later.

Eventually Harley was sleeping deep enough that Jonny could escape. He closed the door behind him quietly and he came face to face with Joker. The clown had gritted teeth and dark eyes, he'd clearly not stopped pacing or worrying all night long.

"Have you ever touched her?" Joker growled in his face. "At any point, Harleen or Harley, have you touched her?"

"Boss, I wouldn't do that to ya," Jonny said calmly and raised his hands. "I've never even thought of Harley in that way. I wouldn't… no, never, Joker."

"Is it why Lucy doesn't look like me?" Joker growled. "Is she yours? Is Jack?"

"Jay, think about the dates for both kids," Jonny replied. "She fell pregnant after the hospital break, we were gone for 6 weeks and pretty much all of that time you two were fucking. She would've fallen pregnant then, and Lucy… things were different again. Even if, for some bizarre reason Harley was having an affair with me, I couldn't possibly have fathered those two children. Jack's the spit of you, Jay, Lucy is identical to her mother but she has your eyes."

"If I find out you have ever-"

"Who are you doubtin', boss? Me or Harley?" Jonny asked. "Because sure as hell you know it would never be me and you know the only person she would ever choose other than you is Ivy. And last I checked two chicks can't make kids without scientific intervention. Come on, Jay, I know this is screwin' with ya, but you know me and Harley better than that."

Joker fell silent. He knew the Jonny was right, he knew that Harley didn't have the capacity to be with anyone else, much less his right-hand man. Her sudden personality change had thrown him and because he wasn't in control of it, he couldn't cope with it. She hadn't reached for anyone other than himself for years and now she was all over Jonny Frost. He just couldn't handle this turn of events.

"Dada," Lucy mumbled from the corridor.

"Why are you out of bed, Princess?" Joker asked, trying not to shout. "Daddy's busy."

"Want mommy," Lucy told him and sniffed. "Need Mommy."

"Mommy's not very well," Joker answered. "Can daddy help?"

"Want mommy," Lucy said and rubbed her eyes. She'd been crying as far as Joker could tell and she was also very tired. It was rare for Lucy to want Harley enough to cry, but Joker couldn't risk the woman running away with his daughter. He knelt down and the toddler walked into his open arms. She put her arms around his neck and Joker held her tightly.

"Mommy is too sick," Joker said lowly. "You need to be a big girl and go back to bed."

"Daddy, no!" Lucy squealed and shook her head as more tears fell down her little cheeks. She gripped his shirt tightly and looked him in the eye. "No, please, daddy no!"

"Lucy Quinn!" Joker snapped. "Go back to bed!" He didn't mean to lose his temper but he was at breaking point. Lucy's face went sad and forlorn for a couple of seconds before her own anger crept in. She scrunched up her face and glared at her father. The lights started to flicker and a few lightbulbs burst. Joker didn't look away from her, she had a very similar temper to him and he wouldn't back down. Frames on the walls started to shake, the doors rattled and the hyenas dashed in to find out what was going on.

"Boys, sit down," Joker growled and they moved to Lucy's side before they sat down.

"Want mommy," Lucy said angrily.

"Don't make me do it, Princess," Joker told her. Things fell from walls and shelves and neither of them backed down until the ceiling lights started to fall down. "Enough, Lucy." Joker told her and picked her up. The little girl burst into tears and sobbed into her fathers' shoulder. Her powers were very out of control and related to her emotions. They were destructive when she was angry and could repair and heal anything when she was happy. The result of a sad Lucy was anything from making her toys levitate and 'dancing' to ripping apart an entire room. Joker took her to her room and sat her on the bed, Bud and Lou came in as well, aiming quiet growls at the Clown Prince. Joker put his daughter back under the covers and ignored the crying. The last thing he needed right now.

He wanted his Harley. He needed her. He couldn't protect the kids alone, he couldn't do any of this without her and if the Red Hood's damage was permanent… he had to get her to love him again.

"Lucy, stop snivelling," Joker ordered. "Mommy isn't well, it's only me or Uncle Frosty."

The little girl didn't even acknowledge him, she just turned and buried her face into Bud's fur coat. The Hyenas looked at Joker and both bared their teeth at him slightly. It made Joker grit his teeth. He wanted to hit something, but he knew that Harley would give him hell for hurting the Hyenas and he had never raised his hand to his children. He'd been tempted, but he hadn't and he figured he deserved a medal for that. He stood up and stroked Lucy's hair before he left and shut the door behind him.

"Frost, next time Harley wakes up," Joker said lowly. "You take her and the kids and you leave Gotham. If she's still the same, just tell her that you've bought your freedom and take her. If she's back to normal, take enough ketamine to last a few days to keep her asleep until we know what's going on."

"Boss, what about Ivy?" Jonny asked. "Surely she'd be better to take Harley than me? She might have a way to fix her."

"The Weed wouldn't bring her back," Joker told him. "I need to get rid of this Red Hood. I need to protect my family. I don't care if I lose Gotham. I have to protect Harley, Jack and Lucy."

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Morning rose and Harley woke up to a very sore head and conflicting memories. She wasn't in her room, but she remembered that the scary man with green hair had tried to keep her there. Flashes of her life played in front of her eyes and she shook her head to clear them, unable to decide if it was real or a dream. She heard the door open and he was stood there, creeping around like some kind of predator. She had a strong urge to go to him, to cuddle into his chest and to kiss him, but at the same time she just wanted to run away.

"Morning, Harley," he said slowly.

"Get away from me," Harley whispered, but it was half-hearted. She could see pain in his eyes and she didn't understand.

"Your… _husband_ ," he spat the word like it was poison on his tongue. "Has bought your freedom. He's taking you away today."

"Husband? I don't… I only…" she mumbled as the clouds formed in her mind again. "You… I don't understand."

"I've just told you Harls, I'm letting you go."

She heard him say her name a thousand times in her head, images of them embracing, kissing and making love played in front of her eyes. She saw herself round with a child and his hands caressing her skin, she saw him putting a ring on her finger in the middle of a museum break out. But then she saw him hitting her, she felt the pain all over her body and those beautiful images of love were destroyed.

"Where's Jonny?" Harley asked.

She saw Arkham, she saw herself bent backward over her desk as he took what he owned. She saw him holding their son with such fear and awe, like the baby would fall apart in his hands. She watched as he sat beside her in a bed, a sick baby girl on his lap and one hand urging her to drink a glass of water.

How could a man love so fiercely, yet be so evil? How could he care so much and hate that he did so?

"Waiting in the car, our… your kids are with him," Joker said answered and it looked like the words were about to kill him.

"Puddin'?" Harley mumbled and tilted her head to the side. He looked up to her and she saw a hope and fire in his eyes. She wasn't sure why she wanted to call him that, it felt natural, normal. But she didn't know what it meant or what would make her want to say it.

"Harley… just… just go," Joker huffed. He went to turn away but couldn't quite manage it. She stood up and realised that she was fully dressed and she hoped that it had been Jonny that had dressed her. She felt intense emotions for the man in the doorway and it scared her. She wanted to punch him and kiss him, at exactly the same moment. She slipped a pair of basic black heels on her feet and went to walk out, but she stopped in front of him and studied his face. There was so much familiarity in her head, so many things coming through the fog, but she didn't know what was real and what was a nightmare.

"Thank you," Harley mumbled and walked out of the room. But something was wrong, she couldn't do this. She was walking away and her head screamed at her not to. She just didn't know why. She felt a bubble of emotion work its way up from her belly and tears formed in her eyes. She turned back to him and gulped a hard lump in her throat.

"Do I need to throw you down the stairs?" Joker growled. He couldn't look at her now, she didn't look like his Harley, she didn't sound like his Harley and she'd actually managed to walk away. Maybe he'd never had the control he'd thought?

"Do you love me?" she asked.

"No." The answer was too quick, too well-rehearsed and his inability to stare her down was the clincher. She remembered that, she remembered his terrifying glare that would scare her and excite her at all the same time. She walked up to him, grabbed the lapels of his coat and pulled him down. She kissed him hard, she mashed her mouth against his and after a few seconds he took control. He gripped her waist and pulled her against him. She moaned lightly as her body pressed against his and his hands held her tighter. He didn't give her any room to move, he didn't want her to slip away again. Her hands went to his hair and he ripped open her blouse, sending buttons flying.

Harley's breath caught in her throat as his fingers travelled over the swell of her breasts and up to her neck. His fingertips tickled her skin and sent chills down her spine. His hands spanned across her throat and she felt a very strange sense of security, she knew who he was and what he was capable of, but she felt safe here. She felt like the world couldn't hurt her, that she could conquer country after country as long as he held her life in his hands. His mouth stayed pressed against hers and she let her fingers twist in his green locks. This was intoxicating, it was wrong, but her soul was alive for it.

"You need to go," Joker growled at her. "What would your _husband_ think of this?"

"He's not my… is he?" Harley mumbled. He leaned his forehead on hers and she closed her eyes. "Tell me the truth."

"You know the truth," Joker said. "And that means you know why I have to do this." He kissed her again and guided her to the desk on the side of the room. He lifted her up onto the edge and moved between her legs. She gnawed at his mouth and pulled at his clothes, wanting to get to his skin. She felt something prick at her skin and then her limbs grew heavy as she flopped against him.

"I'm sorry, Harls, but you've given me no option," the Clown Prince sighed.

"Wha' 'ave you done?" Harley slurred as her body gave into whatever he'd given her. "Puddin', wha'… you… done?" He didn't let her ask again, changed her blouse and threw her over his shoulder. He took her to the car where Frost and the kids were waiting. He pressed a kiss to Lucy's hair, shook Jack's hand and let Frost get Harley secure in her seat before he kissed her mouth one last time.

"Keep her drugged until you hear from me," Joker instructed Frost. "If you don't hear from me, assume I'm dead and never bring them back to Gotham."

"Yes, Boss," Frost nodded. He got into the driver's seat and drove away. Joker watched as his family disappeared in the distance and he took a long breath before he turned back into the club. Now he could focus on getting rid of the Red Hood once and for all.

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Lucy had watched her parent's goodbye and knew she didn't like it. She may have only been 2, but she was perceptive like both Harley and Joker. She had thoughts and feelings that felt far too big and too complicated and she couldn't make sense of them. That hadn't felt like 'I'll see you in a few hours' goodbye as she was used too from her father, but that had felt like a much bigger goodbye.

"Jack-Jack?" Lucy asked, her little body tensing up at the thought of losing her father.

"Dad will be fine, Lucy," Jack told her and squeezed her hand. "He's protecting us and momma. He'll get rid of the scary man and then we can come home."

"No, dada... dada, need dada!" Lucy said sadly.

"It's okay, poppet," Jonny said calmly from the front. "We're going on a holiday, then your dad will call us back. Sounds good right? You Jack and Mommy get to spend some time away from Gotham, it'll be great!"

"Momma not okay!" Lucy whined and pointed at Harley, she was still pretty much asleep from the drug that Joker had injected her with.

"Momma's fine," Jack replied. He'd been trained well, keeping the princess calm was the most important thing in these situations. He held her hands and tried to keep her focus on him. He was the closest thing to the Joker now and he had to be the strong one.

"Mistah Jay…" Harley groaned from the front and she writhed uncomfortably against the seatbelt.

"Alright, Harley, just calm down," Jonny said gently. "You've had a big dose of a sedative, just chill out for me." He put his foot down and sped towards the bridge out of the island city. He saw her pushing herself upright and she whimpered a little as her mind whirled out of control.

"I want daddy!" Lucy screamed as everything became too much. A wave of purple energy engulfed the car and the people inside. It ripped the metal vehicle apart and they tumbled across the road. The remaining parts of the car burst into bright pink flames and took a few of the surrounding traffic with it.

Harley hit the ground hard, her head cracked against the tarmac and blood trickled down her face. Her memories came flooding back and she remembered everything. Her body was still heavy from the drugs but she scrambled to her hands and feet and found Jack laying in the middle of the road. She scooped him up and was relieved when he opened his eyes and hugged her tightly.

"It's okay, Cupcake," Harley whispered. "It's okay." She then saw Lucy and dragged herself and Jack to her daughter. She curled around both of her children as her vision went dizzy. She looked around to see Frost laid against the curb, he was alive and awake but in a bad way. She didn't have the energy to do more than pull herself to the edge of the walkway and make sure her kids were out of direct danger.

"Mommy, I sorry," Lucy whimpered and held onto Harley's shirt. Jack had his arms around his mother's neck and he refused to let go. Harley felt the familiar itch of skin stitching back together as Lucy's powers reversed and their injuries started to heal.

"It's okay, baby girl," Harley nodded.

"Shame, you almost made it out," a woman chuckled.

"Get away from them!" Harley shouted.

"I think I'll enjoy watching you squirm," Michaela Franklin chuckled. "This is better than the torture before. You deserve all of this for what you did to Sam, for what you've done to so many people." She pulled something that looked like a gun from her pocket and she fired it at Jack and Lucy. The dart that hit them rendered the kids unconscious immediately and with how weak Harley was, she just lifted the kids from her.

"And now you know how it feels to have everything ripped from you," Michaela spat. She kicked her boot against Harley's head hard and the psychopath fell back into unconsciousness.

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 _A/N: So it's ramping up, things are being set into motion that will end this story nicely. Potentially a couple more chapters than originally planned, but all plotty goodness._

 _Thank you for your patience guys!_


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: I'm awful, I know. Life has just been all over the place and I've not been very well the last few weeks. This chapter also took a big turn left and I had to re-write everything. So between that, being ill, problems with work etc, it's been hell on earth x_X  
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 _Thank you all for your continued support. There's only a few chapters left now!_

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Chapter 8

Batman returned to the Batcave empty handed. He'd searched the entire city and couldn't find a trace of Red Hood or Helena. Alfred had managed to get power back to the mansion and he had also called Jim Gordon to let him know about the girl's disappearance. He'd also set the computer to search for any mention of an abandoned child, it had become apparent that Joker had Harley back as the fires and explosions had long stopped, but now Batman had the moral dilemma of how he protected the Clowns. He wasn't sure whether he should even bother, every time he locked them away, they came back and killed more people.

"Master Bruce?" Alfred called as he approached with a cup of coffee. "Any sign of Miss Helena?"

"No," Bruce said shortly. "Nothing. Selina's still out there searching. Dick and Tim are trying to track down Red Hood and we're assuming that Harley's back with Joker. How can a child just disappear off the face of the earth?"

"He knows your methods, he knows where you live," Alfred sighed. "He knows your every tactic. I've done some digging. Turns out the Red Hood's been in Gotham for a little longer than we've all known. Sionis and his Black Mask identity have been targeted numerous times by him, he takes their shipments and destroys them, he kills those who get in his way and he takes their victims to rehab."

"He's… a vigilante?" Bruce frowned. "Why haven't we heard of him before, Alfred?"

"He's low level, uses various aliases."

"Sionis isn't low level," Bruce said. "He's taking on one of the biggest mob bosses in the city. He has the ability to infiltrate his comms and systems. Who is this guy? How does he know so much about Gotham? About us?"

"I don't know, sir," Alfred answered. "He's clearly been doing his homework."

"I don't like it. Have Lucius check the computer for any back doors or recent hacks," Bruce told him. "I'm going out to search again."

"Master Wayne, have you given any thought to what happens next between you and Miss Kyle?" Alfred asked. "Once you get Helena back."

"Now isn't the time, Alfred," Bruce sighed, drained his coffee and called Selina again. It rang ten times but still no answer. "We need to find out who this guy is and why he's after my daughter and the Joker and Harley's family. I never thought I'd have to suggest it, but maybe we need to bring them here for protection. We can control every in and out from the Batcave-"

"I have to disagree with you, sir," Alfred interrupted. "Bringing the Joker and his tribe in here will just bring hell to this place and destroy the hard work of so many people. Miss Gordon would be furious if she knew you were sheltering the Clown."

"You're right," Bruce nodded and held a breath for a few seconds. "It'd be so easy to just turn a blind eye, let Red Hood destroy Joker."

"You can't be that person, Bruce," Alfred told him. "That's not something that Bruce Wayne or the Batman can do. You need to consider who is important, Master Wayne, you need to decide who you protect and how you do it."

"I have to decide-" he was cut off as the telephone rang and Jim Gordon's face flashed up on the screen. Bruce took a moment before he answered and he grit his teeth together.

"Jim-"

"Batman, you need to come to GCPD," Gordon said gravely. "The Joker's here and demanding to talk to you. He says that the Red Hood has the children and he's not… he's not said anything since then."

"I'll be there soon," Bruce answered. "I have a few other things to take care of-"

"Harley Quinn and Joker's right hand man were brought into Mercy, they had injuries correlating with a car crash," Jim continued. "But the wounds healed in minutes once fluids were started and now, well… they're now running around Gotham. We assume it's the daughter's powers that were helping them. She can do some weird stuff."

"Has he killed anyone?"

"No, he doesn't know that they're on the run, I don't think."

"Good," Bruce sighed. "I'll be there."

He rubbed his hands over his face and took a long breath. He didn't want to mess around with Joker right now, he just wanted to find Selina and Helena. He wanted his daughter to be safe and away from harm. But he wasn't having any luck tracking down Red Hood. He was frustrated and angry, his entire life had changed in a matter of days and so many people had tried to take it away from him. He also now had to decide whether he protected the Clown's or not, the children needed the protection and Lucy needed help to control her powers. Could he really stop the Red Hood from killing Joker? It wouldn't be blood on his hands and the city would be rid of the disease that plagued them. He knew the answer, but it didn't stop him wondering.

"If you hear from Selina or Helena, call me, Alfred," Bruce said lowly.

"Of course, Master Wayne," Alfred nodded. "Be careful, sir."

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Selina crouched at the corner of one of the apartment blocks in central Gotham. She'd managed to keep well out of Batman's way and avoided his detection entirely, she'd managed to follow Red Hood a little, but had lost him and got caught up in the chaos of the city. Wherever the Red Hood was hiding, it wasn't with Helena. That was about the only thing she'd come up with. He had help, that was for sure, but he wasn't leaving a trace for her to follow up on.

She looked down over the city, watching all the cars and pedestrians, watching to see if her daughter made a sudden appearance. She was keeping her emotions well under control, she wasn't going to let them get the best of her right now. She'd seen a rush of police cars and ambulance's head to the hospital and had followed until it became apparent that it was Harley being transported. She'd hung back, knowing that the police would be on the lookout for anyone connected with Quinn. So she'd retreated and taken up this spot with one of the best vantage points of the surrounding streets. If anyone did anything out of the ordinary, she'd see it and she'd know.

She felt like a rubbish mom, she had let her daughter be kidnapped by some random guy and she'd been forced to tell Bruce the truth. She wasn't sure that things would ever be the same now, she wasn't sure she wanted them to be the same either. She just wanted Helena back and safe in her protection.

"He got my kids too," a Brooklyn voice said from behind her.

"Harley-"

"Joker tried to send me, Jack and Lucy, out of the city," Harley continued. "But Lucy… she got distressed and destroyed the car, threw all of us and Jonny out onto the road. Red Hood's little friend took Lucy and Jack, Selina, she's probably got Helena too. He'll… he'll kill my babies, I don't think he'd kill yours and Bruce's kid."

"How do you know about Bruce?" Selina asked.

"Years ago I pulled off his cowl," Harley shrugged. "You need to look for Michaela Franklin, she's a cop. Have you seen Mistah J at all?"

"Yeah he went to the GCPD, Bruce is with him now," Selina answered. "Don't tell Joker who he is, Harley."

"I haven't for seven years, Kitty," Harley smirked. "I ain't about to give away my meal ticket, I might need it yet. Who knows how this is going to end, hopefully with the Red Hood dead, but god knows anything else. Look for Michaela Franklin, Kitty, I need to find Mistah J and Ivy. They're my best chances of getting the kids away from both of them. You should be able to take one cop, right?"

"What do you take me for, Harls?" Catwoman asked with a smile.

"A mother who hasn't lost her baby before," Harley answered shortly. "It's easy to let emotion run away with you, to make stupid mistakes, to trust people you shouldn't. Go in with a plan, but don't follow it, you won't be able to Selina. The urge to protect your baby will be so strong… you won't be able to help yourself."

Selina looked at the strange light in Harley's eyes, it was like she was remembering so many different things at once but not one single memory would take the front. She was definitely a different woman these days, but some things always remained the same like her loyalty to Joker.

"What should I do?" Selina sighed.

"I'm going to get my puddin' out of the GCPD," Harley told her. "Jonny has gone to get the Hyenas and guns. You… you track down Franklin, you find where our babies are, but don't do anything yet. If anyone's going to get hurt more by this, it's me. I should've killed Red Hood when I had the chance."

Harley moved to the edge of the building and she felt like throwing herself off the edge just to see if she could fly. Just to see if someone would come to her rescue. She'd never thought she'd need Superman, but she felt just too lot in this maelstrom of information and emotion. Her plan had changed in a second, but she didn't want Selina to know what she was going to do. If everyone thought she was going to the GCPD, they'd all get in the way to try and stop her. Joker could get himself out, anyone was stupid to think otherwise.

Selina was confused by her friends' sudden appearance and silence. She was used to Harley being childish and over-excited, but this was too different and she couldn't understand it. She was never this focused or flat, but Selina wouldn't let herself be troubled by whatever was going on in Harley's mind, no one knew and only Joker could manipulate it.

"Do you have any idea about where she could be?" Selina asked.

"Near the club," Harley answered and walked away. She leapt to the next roof top and disappeared down a fire exit.

"Harley, I hope you're right about this," Selina muttered before she pulled down her mask and scaled down the side of the building.

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Batman pulled up outside the GCPD and walked into the building, his cape billowing behind him. The cops parted their way to let him through and every one spoke in hushed voices. The Dark Knight was on a mission and the Joker was actually being cooperative, something really bad had to be happening. Batman saw Jim Gordon waiting at the interrogation room and he shook hands with his friend.

"Remember he doesn't know about Harley or Frost," Jim told Batman. "He walked in the door and let us cuff him and take him to a cell. Something's not right."

"Obviously something to do with the Red Hood," Batman said lowly and looked into the interrogation room to see the Joker sat quietly in the chair. He tilted his head a little and frowned as he pushed open the door and the Joker merely stared at the wall ahead.

"What do you want, Joker?"

"To tell you a simple story, Bats," Joker said after a short pause. "About a boy that never followed order and got his wings broken in the process. I'm sure you'd love to hear it."

"I don't have time for this!"

"You didn't have time for him back then either," Joker said with a howl of laughter. "Oh Bats, you think I'm the only one capable of cruelty? There was once a young man that looked up to you and desperately tried to do as you asked. He begged for you to come and save him from us, from me. But you just didn't turn up, did you Bats? He was screaming, shouting, pleading for you to come and swop him up into your arms and save him. And every time you didn't come, he slowly became mine."

"I saw the tapes of what you did to him," Batman snarled. "I saw what you had Harley do to him!"

"Oh don't you put her actions on me, Batman, she did that all herself," Joker chuckled. "I was so very proud of her, though, I won't deny that. But she had a lot of fun inflicting her pain on little wittle Robin. I don't blame her, she'd been in a lot of pain and she'd had a lot of loss. She just gave him a tiny piece of all the pain he'd put on her. Then it was my turn. And the little bird sang such a bright and shining song."

Batman suddenly leaned over the table and fisted his hand in the Joker's shirt, pulling him off the chair. He punched the Clown a couple of times, but dropped him to the floor like a hot potato when he just started to laugh again. Bruce pushed the desk to the side and put his hand around Joker's neck. He slammed the man against the wall and tightened his grip around his throat.

"What the hell do you want?" Bruce shouted. "Give me one damn good reason why I shouldn't beat you into a bloody pulp?"

"Because _he's_ got your pretty little daughter," Joker gasped. "If he's been after my children, he'd definitely be after yours. And who else would be the father of Catwoman's kid? It's not like anyone else would touch her-"

"Who told you about her?"

"Oh the three Witches of Gotham team up and we get an extra kid in the crèche, it ain't gonna take much to figure out which of the other two spawned," Joker grinned. "So your darling little daughter is stuck with the Red Hood. I wonder if you've figured that out yet?"

"What are you talking about?" Bruce shouted and shook the Clown like rag doll. "Who is the Red Hood?"

"Silly Bat, how can I tell you with my brain cells falling out of my ears?" Joker cackled, despite the pain coming from the back of his skull. He was then slammed down on the floor and a heavy foot was put across his neck.

"Who is he?"

"Think about it, Batman," Joker said lowly and sneered at his foe. "He knows your every move, every gadget, every single action and there's only a select few that would know all of this. Even fewer that are still alive."

"I will crush you-"

"No, no you won't," Joker chuckled. "You're meant to be the world's greatest detective, you figure it out."

"Harley Quinn is in Mercy General Hospital," Batman told him. "So is Jonny Frost. But your kids are nowhere to be seen."

"What?" Joker snarled, baring his metal teeth at the Batman in fury.

"You better start talking before I let them all die," Batman snapped. "And don't think for one second I would put your children and Harley above my daughter's safety. If I have to choose, I choose Helena. Now, talk!"

Joker clenched his jaw tightly and he felt rage fill him. It had been a long time since he'd seen the Batman as a priority, his purpose had changed and his family had been at the top of the list. He had been a father first and foremost, his children wanted and needed for nothing, he kept his wife in the manner to which she'd become accustomed without letting her get out of line. He'd made his life to revolve around teaching his son to be the next King and his daughter to be the beloved Princess she was.

"So there's a man who wanders around Gotham, dresses in a rip off Bat suit," Joker spat and a growl rattled from his chest. "He knows everything about you, knows your party tricks and knows how you fight and who your little friends are. He hates you, he hates me and he's trying to destroy both of us. Who would possibly be stupid enough and brave enough to do that? Hmm?"

"No, he's dead."

"You didn't let me finish my story," Joker laughed. "So after my broken, rotten, distraught, _empty_ , little Harley beat him to a bloodied pulp and had poked more holes in him than a voodoo doll, I took our little friend away. I kept him for my own needs. He was my toy, for all the time I couldn't beat up Harley, for whatever reason, I had a brilliant little outlet. The day's she spent screaming and crying into a pillow over her dead babies, I'd tell her I had work to do and off I went with my crowbar and visited him. For two years, Jason Todd put up a decent fight. But as with them all, they all break in the end and his mind splintered beautifully. All of his hate for me, diverted into hate for you, Bats. I drained him of blood and sent him off in the back of a van, destined for a ditch somewhere smelly and hot."

"Jason… he's alive?"

"And I was as surprised as you were when this new Red Hood appeared on the scene," Joker smiled. "I was even happier when I found out who it was, because, finally, for once in the last 7 years… the joke's on you!" His laughter rang out around the room and cops piled into the room, guns aimed at his head. Jim Gordon walked in and looked at Batman's stance over the clown.

"Do it, Bats, crush me like a bug," Joker taunted. "Do the one thing the city needs to happen! Do what Helena needs, do it for Harleen, just a bit more pressure and watch me squirm like a fish. Do it… do it… DO IT!"

Bruce had to take a few breaths before he stepped off Joker's neck and pulled him up off the floor. He threw the psychopath to the armed guards and they strapped him up to a wheelchair, he closed his eyes and brought himself back under control. He only looked up when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"You okay?" Jim asked.

"It's Jason, Jim," Batman answered. "Joker… tortured him. I didn't… I didn't save him."

"We all thought he was dead, it's not your fault," Jim said reassuringly. Bruce couldn't say anything in return and watched as the Joker was wrestled out of the door and down into the cells. It wasn't until the laughter couldn't be heard that Bruce seemed to become a little more alert to the world around him. He looked up at Jim and gulped a hard lump in his throat. He'd truly believed that Jason was dead despite there not being a body. He'd searched for so long and refused anyone's help for so many years, Joker had taken a piece of his family and fashioned it into a weapon against him.

"Bruce-"

"Batman, Batman, can you hear me?" Nightwing said to the communicator unit on Bruce's forearm gauntlet.

"Yes, Dick," Bruce said quietly.

"We think we've got a trace on Helena," Nightwing continued. "She's in the abandoned park just out by the docks. It looks suspiciously like something Joker would cook up."

"He's in custody," Bruce replied slowly. "Go, go find her and get her somewhere safe. I'll find Selina."

"Don't bother, I'm here," Selina hissed and flickered into view for a couple of seconds. She paused and tilted her head, seeing the pain and anguish in his eyes. "Batman… are you… okay?"

"I'm fine," Batman replied. "I'll meet you there."

"Bruce, the Red Hood's got an accomplice, Harley told me about her," Selina said quickly and saw that Jim Gordon was there too. "A cop, a Michaela Franklin."

"Why do I know that name?" Bruce muttered.

"She was the girlfriend of that psychiatrist that Quinn slaughtered back in the old Arkham building," Gordon told him. "She went inside to help her sort her problems out after Drakes death, but came back with a clean bill of health. Got back onto the force and has been a model officer."

"Yeah, well, she's kidnapping kids and trying to kill people now," Selina stated him. "You might wanna go bring her in. She's got innocent minors as hostages."

"I'll take a few guys and go knock on her door," Jim told Batman and he walked out of the room.

"Bruce, talk to me, what's happened?" Selina asked quietly over the Comm.

"It's Jason," Bruce answered. "Jason Todd. He's alive and I didn't save him."

"Helena needs you here," Selina explained quickly. "Bruce, she's… there's bombs and explosives all the way to where she is in the damned park. Come on, please, we need to get her safe."

"You don't understand, Selina," Bruce replied. "The Red Hood _is_ Jason Todd."

"Congratulations, Dark Knight. You've figured out who I am, I'm frankly disgusted that the Clown had to tell you," Jason said, broadcasting into the Comms unit. "You might want to hurry up to your daughter. She's got 15 minutes before the bombs around her explode."

"I tried to find you-"

"Not good enough!" Jason shouted and cut the link.

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 _._

 _A/N: I'm so sorry again guys, I really am. Life is just getting in the way :(_


	9. Chapter 9

_Hi all, I'm so sorry. Life hasn't been kind and it's taken its toll on me. I had to put writing at the very bottom of the list of things to do, to make sure my own health was improving. I won't lie, I'm still not 100% but I'm better and getting even more so. I apologise with all my being to those who have been waiting so patiently and I hope those that have lost interest will return for the last couple of chapters of the entire Young Gods Universe._

 _So without further a do..._

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Chapter 9

Harley had found Frost and taken the Hyenas, her gun and her bat. She had changed into her hot pants and daddy's little monster top. If she was gonna get hurt, she was going to do it in style. She'd set Bud on the scent of Lucy and Lou on Jack's, she would find her babies if it was the last thing she did. She knew the Hyena's would find them, regardless of where they were in the city, but she had bigger problems. Frost was on his way to get to Joker, she'd seen the Batman, Selina and the rest of the Caped Do-gooders hopping across the city. So she pulled the Hyena's to one of the warehouses that Joker owned and made a phone call.

"What do _you_ want?"

"I'm calling in a favour," Harley said lightly. "I take it you've heard about what's happening in Gotham?"

"I've had a call from your boyfriend already. What do you want me to do about it Quinn?"

"Oh, Mandy, don't be so glum, chum," Harley giggled. "I'm going to find my babies, when I do, I want Flag here with a car to take them away to safety until I can come and get them."

"What do I get in return?" Amanda Waller asked.

"Me."

"Not enough, Quinn," Amanda snarled. "You've been on minimal Task Force X missions, you've caused me more problems than I ever needed to deal with, you've had free reign for years. I want Joker and your daughter."

"Not gonna happen and you're in no place to make demands after that stunt over in Texas," Harley pointed out. "If your blood type had been compatible with mine, Mistah J woulda drained ya and then left ya to die. My daughter would tear apart any containment field or device you and ya geeks could invent, my little prince has a price on his head that would mean all of Gotham's underworld would turn out to fetch him home."

"Like I care," Amanda snorted.

"You had kids once, Amanda," Harley tried, her accent softening and her heart thudded in her chest. "You had people that took them away. My babies… if you coulda protected your babies like I can protect mine, are you sayin' you wouldn't? Are ya sayin' you wouldn't try? Batman and Catwoman are racin' across the city to save their daughter, they got friends with tech, I got brute force and risin' bloodlust. I need my babies safe. I need Flag."

"That's such a shit card to pull, Quinn," Waller said quietly. There was a long pause and every second felt like a day to Harley. She had so much to do and Amanda was wasting her time. She just needed help. She couldn't trust Joker to come through, he was too angry and too vengeful and if he went off on one of his tirades, she'd have to be the one to get in the way. The dynamic with Batman had changed so much since the kids had arrived, Joker didn't really care much for the Dork Knight any more, he enjoyed the odd tango, but priorities were different.

"Get them to the south bridge," Amanda said. "By midnight. Flag will be waiting there with a discreet armed guard. Get them to the bridge. They'll be safe. But you're gonna owe me big time, Harley, I mean… big time."

"I know, I know," Harley sighed. "Thank you, Amanda." She hung up, took the sim card out of the phone and smashed the device under her boot. She crushed the card and threw the pieces to the opposite sides of the room. She rubbed her hands over her face and took a long breath.

"Bud, Lou," she shouted sharply. The two Hyenas came to her and sat at her feet, they whined and wagged their tails excitedly as Harley stroked her hands over their heads and necks. She checked her gun was loaded and she tightened her pig tails. She kept them at heel and walked out of the warehouse. She could see the old fairground in the distance and she smirked. At least the Batman couldn't get involved right now.

"Come on boys," she smiled. "We've gotta find our cubs. I need my babies."

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Jim Gordon led three squad cars into the city to Michaela Franklin's building block. Jim had thought very highly of her after her recovery from the assault on Arkham Asylum so long ago and he hadn't ever doubted her return to the GCPD. She'd always been the first to jump to any case with the Clowns, but he assumed it was normal and his discussions with her doctors had settled him on that. But kidnapping children? He didn't think it was possible.

He stopped outside the block and his armed officers went in first, clearing the hallways up into the apartment itself. They burst through the doorway after giving three warnings and Jim waited for the shouts of clear before he entered. The living room looked quite normal for a single woman, although the amount of empty bottles of wine did worry him. He checked the answer phone and looked through the un-opened mail quickly.

"Jim," Harvey Bullock said as he looked in from another room. "You… you gotta come and see this. It's… I'll send Montoya ahead." Jim frowned and followed his friend and colleague into the bedroom. He clenched his jaw and shook his head at the sight in front of him. There was a cork board with pictures, police reports, crime scene evidence and transcripts from all of the crimes with even remote links to Joker and Harley from the last 7 years. There were photos covering the walls, scribbles of potential links and leads, arrest charges and all sorts. Michaela shouldn't have had any of this and it sent alarm bells ringing in his ears.

There were pictures of Joker and Harley from the previous years and also photos of the two children. She had extensive notes on Jack and Lucy, she had tracked their movements closely from the last few months and it was disturbing how much information she'd collected about the children specifically. Then there was a photograph of Selina Kyle holding a small child and Jim knew what she was going to do.

"Bullock!" Jim shouted. "I want all GCPD officers out looking for Michaela Franklin, she's armed, dangerous and is in the midst of a psychotic break. She's teamed up with the Red Hood and currently has three children as a hostage."

"Yes sir!" Harvey replied and grabbed his radio from his pocket. He barked orders down the radio and soon enough the sound of sirens filled the air. Jim saw a photograph of Samantha Drake and Michaela and he picked it up.

"I'm sorry Michaela," he sighed. "But this doesn't make you any better than them." He put the photo back down and took off back down to the cars. As he and Bullock ran down the stairs, his phone started to ring.

"I don't have the time, Bruce," Jim snapped.

"Red Hood's got my daughter, me, Nightwing, Selina and Robin are on our way to the old fair ground," Bruce told him. "Harley is out somewhere looking for Jack and Lucy. Joker won't be far behind."

"I'm sending cars all over Gotham, we'll get them, Bruce," Jim told him.

"Be safe Jim."

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Jonny Frost walked straight into the GCPD, he held his gun firmly in his hand and the henchmen followed him with machine guns and flamethrowers. The police officers didn't know what to do about the Joker's entourage walking into the building like they owned it. Two officers fired at them and Cosplay Batman shot holes in their legs.

"Now, no one has to get hurt," Jonny Frost said. "No one _else_ has to get hurt. I just want my boss outta the locker so we can go and find his kids and his crazy cheer-leading wife. Is someone going to give me the damn key or do I need my colleagues here to start blowing off body parts of you lot?"

One of the female officers grabbed the keys to the cells and almost jogged ahead of Frost to the holding cells. He chuckled as she fumbled with the keys and slung Joker's golden gun over his shoulder. The rest of the henchmen kept the remaining GCPD officers secure and quiet as Jonny released Joker. The Green haired maniac punched the woman in the gut when the door opened and took his gun from Frost.

"Where's Harley?" Joker snapped.

"She's taken the Hyenas to track down Lucy and Jack," Jonny told him. "She's got her gun, bat and those ridiculous heeled boots. I think she's gonna be fine."

"Don't be so stupid," Joker hissed. "We're going to find Red Hood. He'll have the kids and that means he'll have Harley. Round up the Scum, Frost. I want Penguin, Riddler, Ivy… all of them out looking for Red Hood. If Batman's too busy trying to protect his daughter, then I will call all manner of monsters from the depths of hell to find my family."

"Of course, boss."

"Someone's going to die, tonight, Jonny," Joker said lowly. "If it's not Red Hood then it's the Bat."

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Harley peeked through the small window and saw her children huddled together in a cold room. She picked the lock and pulled it open, she couldn't fit through but she could reach her arm in. She saw Jack look round and she grinned at him, he dragged Lucy to her feet and they both ran over to her.

"Oh thank God you're okay," Harley whispered. "Hush, Lucy, hush. Shush, baby girl, shush."

"Momma, they got Helena, I tried to stop them-" Jack started.

"You're such a good boy, cupcake," Harley smiled. "You've both been so brave. I'm gonna bust ya outta here and get ya safe. Or die tryin'. B-man is out gettin' Helena, you don't need to worry about her."

"I tried to stop, her momma," Jack whined. "I tried to hurt her, I bit her, the lady. But she threatened to kill you and Lucy, so I… I had to stop."

"Cupcake, you don't need to apologise, you've done nothin' wrong," Harley said gently. "You protected your sister, you tried to protect Helena and you did the right thing to make sure you and Lucy weren't hurt. Now, stay in the corner and keep quiet, I'll be round in a minute. I'm so proud of you, Jack." She managed to stretch and her fingertips gently ran over his hair. The little boy giggled a little before he bundled Lucy away. Harley took one last look at her children before she scrambled up to her feet and she sent Bud and Lou ahead. The two hyenas wagged their tails excitedly as they followed the children's scents. They reached the front of the building and Harley was pleasantly surprised to see there were two guards. They looked high out of their minds and that meant this was either a trap or Red Hood just liked putting dead bodies in the ground.

She crept forwards and whistled to the Hyenas. They lurched forward and ran at the two guards, their jaws snapped and chewed at the humans, blood ran down the street and Harley walked on by as the animals killed the two men. Her heels were dipped in blood and she left footprints as she walked into the old library.

"Boys!" Harley barked and the two Hyenas left their prey and trotted to her side, yipping eagerly for more blood. She swung her bat in her hands and looked around the rooms. The shelves were empty and pushed either to the wall or on the floor. Books and papers were discarded like so much waste and it made the psychiatrist in her angry. She cracked her bat against one of the old wooden doors and it smashed through.

"Knock, knock!" Harley called with a laugh. She burst into the next room, prepared for battle, but it was empty. She was suspicious and didn't like how quiet this place was. Jack could break out of most places, he could fit into the smallest of spaces, what on earth did they have that was keeping him and Lucy trapped? She grit her teeth together and put her hands on the back of the Hyena's necks. They walked at her side, sniffing the air and slowly made their way through the building. Harley didn't bother to cover her tracks or to creep, she was there to get her kids back, not play games.

Bud and Lou led her to a door down to the basement and she opened it carefully. She told the Hyenas to wait ad she carefully made her way down the steps. She almost held her breath as her footsteps echoed in the dark corridor.

"Mommy?" she heard Lucy's little voice and she jumped down the last few steps. She saw Lucy stood, tears running down her face and she threw herself at her daughter.

"Oh baby girl, my baby, are you okay? Are you hurt?" Harley asked and fell to her knees. She stroked Lucy's hair and kissed her cheeks.

"I'm okay, mommy," Lucy answered and hugged her tightly. "Jack-Jack's still in there."

"Momma no! It's not-"

"Quiet you little pig!" a voice hissed and Harley's blood ran cold. She looked down at Lucy and felt the pit of her stomach drop when she saw a big smile grow over her little face.

"What's wrong, mommy Harley?" the little girl giggled. "Something different about your own flesh and blood? Is there something wrong with you precious little girl?" her laughter grew until it was deep and masculine and the shape of her baby girl grew and twisted into a mountain of a creature.

"Clay Face, I thought you were dead!"

"I have been granted my freedom and my life in return for your head!" the deep guttural voice gurgled as human-sized versions of itself spawned around Harley.

"Good thing my battin' arm's still strong," Harley muttered before she started to fight.

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Catwoman stared up at the top of the Ferris wheel and felt anger coil inside of her. Her daughter was stuck at the very top of the fairground ride, surrounded by all sorts of explosives and devices of torture. The wheel had been painted green and purple, it looked so much like one of Joker's ideas of a laugh, but they all knew that it wasn't. It was worse. Jason had been one of the team, one on their side. But now he was a threat to her family.

"How do we get up there?" Selina asked Bruce. "We've spent all this time getting in with minimal disruptions, now we just need to get Helena out."

"And find Jason," Dick said.

"Screw Jason, he's probably somewhere else causing trouble," Selina snapped. "We can find him later, we need to get Helena and then we need to find Jack, Lucy and Harley. Leave Jason to Joker. They can battle it out-"

"No, Selina, we get Helena, then we get Jason," Bruce said angrily. "Joker and Harley can sort themselves out."

"I am not leaving Harley to deal with this on her own!" Selina shouted. "She's been through enough!"

"Let's just get Helena," Oracle said over the Bat-communication units. "We can think of the others later."

"Tim, you and Dick start on the explosives, Oracle, can you isolate any communications from this area?" Bruce asked. "Selina, you're coming with me. We'll find a way to Helena and get her out safely. Then we can discuss what we do next."

Selina grit her teeth together as Tim and Dick disappeared off to get started on their tasks. She saw Oracle's hologram disappear and Bruce looked up to her. She was angry with him for not wanting to help her friend and her children, she was angry that he wasn't being the Batman she knew, she was even angrier with herself for bringing Helena back. She shouldn't have done it, she should've stayed out of town and just stuck to looting the museums outside of the city. But there was too much Gotham in her blood and it called her back all the time, as it did everyone else.

"I can use the grapple to get to the top, but we'd have to wait until Dick and Tim have finished disarming the bombs," Bruce told her.

"I shouldn't have brought her here," Selina hissed. "I should've left her at home, come to say hello, robbed a couple of galleries and been gone. I shouldn't have bought Helena."

"Selina-"

"No, Bruce, you don't get it. Once every one knows whose daughter she is, they will all be out to kill her," Selina said furiously. "She has a huge target over her head, every single one of your enemies will be there to snatch her up and take her away, use her as a ransom for your identity and your head on a pike. Bringing her here to live will just get her killed and you slaughtered by the highest bidder."

"You don't get to keep her from me, I am her father!"

"You are also Batman," Selina told him, her voice shaking with withheld emotions. "You're not just Bruce Wayne. I knew what I was getting into when we first started this… thing, but she doesn't have a choice and I will protect her from this world of ours."

"We both grew up without our parents, Selina," Bruce said gently. "I adopted Tim and made Dick and Jason my wards, but… she's my actual daughter. She's blood and genetics and flesh. Helena is my daughter and I need to know her, I deserve to know her. I was so angry when you told me, not because I didn't want a child, but because you'd kept her from me. Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy knew more about my daughter than I did and there I was being told to keep her safe from some new vigilante that turns out to be the one Robin I couldn't save. Can you understand why I haven't been jumping from the rooftops with joy?"

Selina just nodded and she looked up to the top of the Ferris Wheel, she let out a long shuddered breath and touched her hand to Bruce's chest quickly. She knew what he was saying, but she still felt like it would've been better if he'd never known about Helena. She took her whip from her belt and eyed the frame work of the ride.

"I'll take a direct approach," Selina said.

"I'll go the scenic route," Bruce smirked.

"We get Helena and we get the hell out of here," Selina told him.

"Yes boss."

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Joker walked into his club and smiled at the gathering of people inside of it. The leaders of all the gang families, Penguin, Riddler, Ivy, Scarecrow, Two Face and many others. It had taken an hour for them all to turn up and with no word back from Harley yet, Joker was getting concerned that she either hadn't found their children or she'd been captured herself. He wasn't going to wait any longer to hear from her, he wanted the city swept through and his family brought back to him.

And Red Hood dead.

"What's the meaning of this, Joker?" Two Face asked. "You've called us all here for what? Cheap booze?"

"Red Hood is a thorn in my ass and he's got three very important things of mine," Joker said lowly. He had the entire rooms attention, everyone was on edge and waiting for someone to kick off. "The Red Hood and some bitch of a cop have got Harley and my two children. Whoever brings them home alive, there's five million dollars in it. Cash. No questions asked. Red Hood stays alive. I want him all too myself."

"Do you have any idea where she is?" Ivy asked.

"She took off with the Hyenas, follow the piles of shit and you should find them," Joker shrugged. "Anyone that turns out to be helping Red Hood is dead. Anyone tries to kidnap Harley or my children to get more money out of me, is going to die."

There was a silence as the villains of Gotham considered their next actions. Eventually Two Face and Penguin led the charge with Riddler to their aid. Ivy took her own route and the crime families started calling in favours and began to search with everyone else. They'd never worked together like this, but the money Joker offered and the knowledge that all of them would die if Harley wasn't found, was enough motivation for them to put aside their normal squabbles. Half an hour later, his cell phone started to ring and he looked at the screen.

Harley.

"Princess, where are you? Have you got Jack and Lucy?" Joker asked, relief washing through him.

"Y-yes, p-puddin'," Harley stammered. "I… I have them. I'm sorry."

"Harley? Harley!"

"I'm sorry, Joker, but Harley can't really speak right now," Michaela Franklin chuckled. "I've got her, the children and Red Hood is on his way to us right now. He's given me orders to tell you to meet us on the roof of the old Monarch Theatre. Bring no one. Call off your hordes of criminals and let the GCPD round them up and lock them away."

"I don't take orders from you, bitch," Joker snarled. "What have you done to Harley?"

"She took a pummelling from Clay face," Michaela laughed. "If you want your wife or your children back alive, you'll do as I ask. Monarch Theatre roof. Do not bring company and do not tell anyone where you're going. I have a gun at Harley's head and Clay Face is ready to suffocate the two children. Red Hood will be waiting for you."

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 _A/N: Once again, I'm sorry for the long wait and I hope you'll join me for these last few chapters. Thank you so much for your endless patience and support! I love you all!_


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N: Brace yourself boys and girls. There's only two chapters left of this story...  
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Chapter 10

Jason stood on the top of the Monarch theatre, an iPad in his hands watching video from the fair ground where Batman and his minions were racing to save Helena. This had all been far too easy. Keeping Joker and Harley split up, taking the children and keeping them captive, breaking into Wayne Manor… too easy. A lot of time had passed and he was more sceptical than ever before, _bitter_ is Thalia al-Ghul had called him. Thanks to the League of Assassins, he'd learned more fatal ways to attack people like Joker and he was almost as good as Deadshot with a gun. But his anger and rage was uncontrollable. He saw no problem in inflicting pain and death upon people like the Clowns, they murdered people without a seconds thought, why should he give any more thought to their lives?

"Do what you want to me, leave my children alone," Harley Quinn snarled from her position on the floor. She was beaten black and blue, drying clay stuck to her skin and clothes. He'd attached a leather loop around her neck and he used it like a choke chain on a dog.

"Did you ever listen to anyone who begged from you the same mercy?" Jason hissed and yanked the leather tightly. "Did you ever stop when someone asked you to? Hmm? When a kid begged you to stop stabbing him and hitting him with a baseball bat?"

Harley dangled by her neck, coughing and spluttering as she struggled to breathe. She scrambled to try and get her feet under her, but she just couldn't. As her face started to go blue, Jason released her and watched her slump back down to a pile on the floor. She wheezed and rasped air into her lungs, her body battered thanks to Clay Face.

"No, I didn't think so," Jason snapped. "You and your… _filth_ don't deserve to live. You don't deserve a family to begin with."

"If you think he'll save me, then you don't know him," Harley said quietly.

"I know him better than you, darlin'," Jason spat. "He'll bring an army, he'll think he knows better. He'll wander up here all self-confident and assuming he can pick up the children and call you like the little bitch you are."

"Boss, the kids are getting scared," Franklin said as she walked onto the roof top. "The witch keeps trying to use her powers to escape. Clay Face has control at the moment but I don't know how much more he can take before she cooks him."

"Fine, leave her to it," Jason shrugged. "We're going to win regardless. If she fries herself out, she'll be easier to get rid of."

"You hurt her and he will never stop," Harley told them both. "You hurt one hair on her head and _he_ will not stop until every body part is removed and you know it. Think about what we did to you, Jason, and we hadn't even held our babies then."

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Selina was using her whip and claws to scale to the top of the old Ferris Wheel. She was elegant and agile, but she couldn't look down. She felt at risk here, it was a straight drop if she fell and whilst her responses were quick and dependable, Harley's words repeated round in her head.

 _"_ _It's easy to let emotion run away with you, to make stupid mistakes, to trust people you shouldn't. Go in with a plan, but don't follow it, you won't be able to Selina. The urge to protect your baby will be so strong… you won't be able to help yourself."_

It was true. She was so desperate to get to Helena and so was Bruce that they didn't see anything coming. Dick and Tim were desperately trying to diffuse bombs and they were pre-occupied too. She scaled the metal structure as swiftly as she could, she was just within reach when she heard someone shout her name. She looked down to see a missile heading for the Ferris Wheel and her heart jumped into her throat.

"Bruce!" Selina screamed and started to scramble up the metal frame. She heard the whoosh of Bruce's cape and she just got her hand on the cart that Helena was in when there was a loud bang. The Wheel started to wobble and move, Selina pulled herself up and she threw herself over Helena as the ride collapsed. The missile had collided with the centre pin and it was now just falling apart.

Bruce had tried to deflect the bomb but he just hadn't had enough time to do so. He saw Helena and Selina falling from the cart at the top and he used the grapple gun to pull him closer to his family. He dived towards the ground, hoping to catch them before Selina's back took the full impact of their fall. He got to them with a couple of seconds to spare and he landed with both Helena and Selina in his arms.

"Bruce! I'm sorry-" Dick started.

"We were-" Tim said.

"It's fine, none of us were looking," Bruce interrupted. "Are you okay, Helena?"

"Mommy, my head hurts," Helena whimpered in Selina's arms.

"Oh baby," Selina cooed and checked her over quickly. "It's just the noise from the explosion, it'll pass, I promise."

"The scary man in the hood gave me this," Helena coughed as tears streamed down her face. Bruce felt quite jealous that Selina was the one providing their daughter with all the reassurance, but he understood that Helena still didn't really know him.

" _Bruce, you just about saved your daughter, but you're going to end up killing someone else's_ ," he read out and felt fury flash through him.

"Harley," Selina gasped. "We've gotta go save her-"

"We need to get you and Helena safe," Bruce told her.

"We need to help Harley," Selina barked. "Oracle and Alfred can protect Helena, Bruce, who's going to protect Lucy and Jack?"

Bruce battled with himself for a minute before he just nodded. He pressed a button on his gauntlet to summon the Bat Wing and he looked to Selina again. He pulled her and Helena close and kissed Selina gently and Helena's hair. He had them back and for a moment, he felt like he could save them from whatever was coming.

"Batman," Barbara said over the comms. "The Bat Wing is on it's way to you, but there's… all of the gangs, all the bad guys, the Falcone's, the Maroni's, Penguin, Riddler, Sionis, Zasz… they're all on the streets, searching for Harley and the children. Poison Ivy's tearing the city to pieces and Joker had vanished from the GCPD."

"Master Bruce – the Monarch theatre!" Alfred shouted across Barbara. "Red Hood's holding Harley hostage."

"On our way," Bruce said lowly.

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Harley looked up from her pile on the floor when she heard booted footsteps head towards them. She shook her head and her breath stopped in her throat. He shouldn't be here, he shouldn't be coming back for her. He had to get Lucy and Jack to safety, he couldn't be here. She looked at the anger in his eyes and for a moment, he looked down at her and his eyes softened very slightly. It was at that point that Harley was jerked to her feet. Her knees gave way but she scrambled upright to ease the pain around her throat from the leather strap around her neck.

"Puddin', no!" Harley shouted. "You can't!"

"Shut up, Harley," Joker snapped.

"So here he comes," Jason chuckled. "The King of Gotham himself, the Clown Prince of Crime. The shit on my shoe. The knife in my back. You've finally come to collect your stray dog? You should've killed me when you had the chance."

"And miss out on this fun?" Joker cackled. "Don't be stupid, kid."

"You don't care about them!" Jason shouted. "You don't! If you did you would've protected them!"

"And what, dear boy, do you think I was trying to do when I sent Harley and my two children out of Gotham?" Joker asked. "When your little puppet plucked them from the road and decided to abandon Harley? What do you think I was trying to do for my children?"

"You mean these children?" Jason said with a twitch to the corners of his mouth. He gestured to the shadows and Michaela walked forwards with Jack and Lucy. Their hands were tied together and the ex-police officer held a gun at them.

"No!" Harley roared and struggled in Jason's grasp.

"Mommy!" both the children cried and Harley tried to break free. She felt Jason hit the back of her head, but she barely registered it. She was more concerned with her children being manhandled by Michaela.

"It's okay, babies, its gonna be okay!" Harley said, trying to reassure them.

"If you survive this, you've got a couple new rugs for the floor as well," Jason smirked to Harley. "Had to put the guard dogs down, it's not lawful to have wild animals without a licence."

"Bud… Lou…" Harley whispered. Her heart clenched painfully as she thought of her two lovely boys fighting with Jason, trying to protect her and the kids. She fell silent as grief swirled inside of her. She'd loved them like they were her children, she'd fought to keep them once Jack had been born and even more so with Lucy. Joker appreciated what security they offered, but he didn't like them. They were her animals, not anyone else's.

"So what's it to be, Dr Quinzel?" Jason asked. "Who's more important to you? The man who has abused and tortured you for the best part of your life? Or the children he forced you to bring into this world? You've gotta pick the one that lives. Jack or Lucy? Joker? Yourself? We know you'll never put yourself above him. Even if it could save your life. But your children…"

"Leave them alone," Harley hissed.

"You choose one to leave, one stays," Jason told her. "Choose wisely. Your pretty princess? She's too young to remember this, but then she has powers, she might save you? Or your son? The future king of your life of scum, he's only a kid but he might have something up his sleeve."

"They're both going," Harley snapped. "Neither of them are staying."

"Choose one!" Jason bellowed and tightened the strap around her throat. She kept calm as her airway was closed, a smile spread across her face as her body begged her to take a breath. As she started to turn blue, he gave in and released the strap a little. She gasped in a lungful of air and coughed and spluttered as she struggled to control her breathing. She just calmed herself when he tightened it again.

"Momma!" Jack screamed as Harley once again started turning different colours. Lucy was crying loudly and Jason looked to see the Joker stood with darkened, deadly eyes. The clown had moved closer and was now just a few feet away. Jason slipped the fastener through the hole on the strap and threw Harley at Joker. Her mouth was gaping, trying desperately to access a small breath. Joker pulled his knife from his pocket and sliced through the leather. Harley collapsed to the floor with heavy, rasping gasps and Joker took a few stabs towards Jason. The man was well trained and parried his blows, but Joker carried on and on until he made contact with the metal suit. The knife was dug into the chest and had lifted a panel, leaving the Joker smirking like a cat that had caught the canary.

"Not quite as sturdy as the Bats, then?" Joker purred darkly.

"I'm a hundred times better than him!" Jason protested.

"You let me get the upper hand without me trying," Joker said and pressed the knife in through the armour and felt the tip of the knife hit skin. "You kidnap my children, you abduct my wife, twice, and you threaten their lives. Do you have any idea what I'm about to do to you?"

"What you should've done all those years ago!" Jason said loudly. "You should've killed me, you should've just done it."

"I can kill you right now!" Joker roared. He went to pushed the knife in further but a metal object whizzed through the air and knocked the blade out of his hands. He turned his head in fury as he saw Batman, Nightwing, Robin and Catwoman flying in.

"Stop!" Nightwing yelled. Jason used that opportunity to punch Joker and they started to brawl. Harley scrambled to her feet and ran at Michaela, she tackled the woman away from her children and tried to hit her head against the floor, but the ex-cop managed to land a decent hit to her nose and jaw. Harley dug her nails into Michaela's arms and made her bleed, she slammed the woman against the floor but Michaela's fury broke and she started to fight back, punching Harley in the face.

"Joker, Jason, stop!" Batman shouted and ran onto the scene as he finally reached the edge of the building.

"Party time," Jason chuckled. He head butted Joker and threw him to the side before he ran towards the Batman. Joker picked up his gun and shot three times at Jason's suit before having to use it as a bludgeon against Nightwing. He saw Robin and Catwoman heading towards Harley and Michaela and he growled.

"Stop, Joker, we're trying to help," Nightwing told him.

"Funny that," Joker spat and used the butt of his gun to hit the side of Nightwing's head again.

"Harley, let me take the kids to Ivy," Catwoman said as she wrestled Michaela to the ground and Robin tried to pin Harley down.

"Hell no," Harley grunted as Robin put her against the wall of the staircase instead. "I'll never see them again, Bruce will make sure of that."

"Wait, what?" Robin asked. They paused for a second to look at each other and in that moment, Harley had gotten free. She grabbed Jack and Lucy's hands and made a break for the staircase. In her moment of surprise, Selina had allowed Michaela to grab her gun and take aim at Harley.

Time slowed down in Joker's mind as he saw Harley re-appear around the corner of the block. He smiled seeing she had her children and was getting away, but then a very familiar clicking of a gun registered in his ears.

"No!" he screeched and watched as Michaela pulled the trigger on her gun. He could practically see the bullet in the air and as it Harley, he felt the air being knocked out of his lungs. She hit the ground on her stomach and blood immediately started to seep from her wounds. Joker pushed Nightwing aside and ran to her. He scooped her up into his arms, turned her so he could just about see the wound and he plunged his finger inside to try and dislodge the bullet, but he couldn't reach it.

"Baby, look at me, Harley," Joker said calmly, though his heart was racing like a rabbit.

"It hurts," Harley whispered.

"It doesn't, what are you talking about?" Joker said, trying to distract her. "Come on Harls, where's the fucking bullet?" he pulled his hand from her wound and looked at the bright red blood. He looked down at the floor and winced at the fast growing puddle around her.

"Puddin'," Harley mumbled. "I… I'm sorry, I failed."

"No, no, no," he told her. "You're not going anywhere. You're gonna be just fine, it's only a little blood. You bled worse than this when Lucy was born, you can do it." He looked up to see Catwoman trying to usher Jack and Lucy away from the scene and felt his fury bristle, but he wouldn't leave Harley.

"If you let me take her to Gotham General-" Batman started.

"She won't make it that far," Nightwing told him quietly.

"Momma, no, I wanna see momma!" Jack screamed.

"No, Jack-" Selina shouted and reached out for him but the kid slipped her grasp and ran at his parents. He locked his arms around Harley's neck and sobbed loudly. She kissed his hair and traced his face with her fingers.

"You're just gorgeous, baby," Harley stammered as she started to feel weaker. "Go and take care of your sister, my Prince."

"I don't wanna leave you," Jack cried. "I need you, momma."

"You're a big brave man now, cupcake," Harley said fondly and kissed his forehead. "Go on, go to Lucy. Tell her mommy loves her. Go, Jack." She watched as her tearful little boy dragged himself away and went to Selina. She let a teardrop roll down her cheek and she let out a gasp as her breathing became shorter. Joker pulled her closer still and pressed a long lingering kiss to her mouth. She tried to chase his lips as he broke it, but she was draining of energy and it took enough to just keep looking at him.

"Mistah J, I'm sorry," Harley said gently.

"You're not allowed to die on me, Harls," he replied sternly. "I need ya to look after me, toots, I need ya cute little ass around to keep me in line. Take deep breaths, that's it, breath with me, baby. I need ya, you're not allowed to leave me yet."

This wasn't how she was supposed to end, he was meant to be the one who killed her, not… not some bitch with a gun. He couldn't lose her like this, it wasn't right, it wasn't funny. It wasn't okay. She wasn't allowed to leave him like this, he couldn't cope without her and that had been proven time and time again.

"I'm cold, puddin', so cold."

"No, you're not, that's just… you're not cold, Princess," Joker told her and felt his voice affected by the emotion he refused to show.

"Tell Jack-Jack and Princess Lucy that… that I tried and… I love them," Harley begged from him and coughed, a trickle of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth. "I'm so… honoured to have given them to you."

"Stop talking like you're going to die," Joker hissed. "Come on, pumpkin pie, come on." He kissed her again and her hands weakly found his hair. She was so cold, her skin was losing it's life and her eyes were becoming dull. This was unbearable. He'd never felt anything for anyone dying ever before and now… this was far worse than he'd ever imagined.

"I love ya, puddin'," Harley whispered against his mouth.

"Give me ya best smile, Harley Quinn," Joker said softly. "My Queen, my goddess. One more smile." She strained against the numb feeling and she gasped for a breath before she gave him one more grin.

And then she let go of her breath and her eyes rolled back in her head.

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 _A/N: This is indeed the final story for the Young Gods Universe._

 _Two chapters left._

 _I know, I'm evil._


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N: Sorry guys, but here's the second to last chapter. You'll understand the apology in the end xD  
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Chapter 11

Joker looked down at the body in his arms and watched took a few moments to process what had happened. She was gone. His project. His wife. His little monster. She'd always been so full of life in someway or another, that his previous imaginings of her dead body had been too lively. She was grey already, cold and heavy. The only colour on her face was her bright red lipstick that had been smeared during her fighting and their final embrace. Her beautiful baby blue eyes dull and dark. Her infectious spirit and need for blood had disappeared. He was… broken. Lost. Every time they'd broken up and she'd gone off with Ivy and Selina, he had relished the time alone, now he regretted every second he hadn't spent with her.

All those moments he'd wanted to kill her, that he'd wished she'd just drowned in the acid and now she had actually gone. He'd spent so much time trying to kill her or get her taken to Black Gate Prison so she'd at least never see him again, so he wouldn't have to put up with her incessant need for attention, he wouldn't have to put up with her pathetic whining and sorry excuse for a laugh.

And now he craved all of it and more.

 _"_ _She's dead, Joker, she's free of you."_

 _"_ _She's not allowed to die," Joker growled furiously. "I am the one who kills her!"_

 _"_ _Giving birth to your demon child killed her, the baby died too," Quincy Sharpe told him through the glass of his cell at Arkham Asylum. He'd just fought for his baby, fought for his Harley. His son couldn't have died. She couldn't have died._

 _"_ _She's not dead," Joker snarled._

 _"_ _No? She passed the after birth and her body drained of blood like a slaughtered cow," Quincy shrugged. "The baby died in Waller's arms."_

 _"_ _No!" Joker roared and started to destroy everything in his cell._

"I love you, Harls," he said too quietly for anyone else to hear. He took off his jacket and placed it over her as he put her down. He stood up and his furious eyes turned to Jason Todd. He was quiet and held a rage that even made Batman take a step back.

"Joker, don't-" the Clown pulled a gun and fired two shots at Michaela, killing her instantly. He punched Nightwing away and kicked Robin in the groin. He ran at Jason and pulled his knife once more. Jason tried to deflect the clown, but he was pushed to the ground and the blade jabbed towards his throat. Joker roared in pain and fury. The only thing he'd ever loved had died in his arms and all because he hadn't killed Jason when he'd had the chance.

Jason punched Joker in the gut and watched as he stumbled for a second. He took the opportunity and kicked him to the ground, Joker sprang to his knees and ran his knife into the material on the thigh of Jason's suit. It sliced through the neoprene-like cover and blood spurted from the wound.

"Jason!" Batman shouted.

"Shut up old timer!" Jason yelled back. He picked up Joker by the back of his shirt and threw him to the side again.

He then swung his gun round at Jason and they stared at each other, guns brandished at each other's heads.

 _He held his two week old baby girl in his hands, she was desperately hungry, but would throw up everything except her mother's milk, but Harley was in such a bad way that she couldn't feed and Joker couldn't figure out how to express her milk. His precious princess and his queen were on the verge of death and there wasn't anything he could do._

 _"Puddin'?"_

 _"_ _I'm here, Harls," Joker said quietly. "I need you to feed the baby, she won't…. she can't hold anything down."_

 _"_ _I'm so weak, Mistah J," Harley whimpered. "I… I don't know if I can."_

 _"_ _Tell me how I can help, baby, I need you to help me," Joker told her. He put Lucy down in her cot and pushed Harley so she could sit upright in the bed. Harley whined in pain and she slumped backwards for a second before her fingers numbly pulled the side of her top and bra down. Joker returned with the baby and gave her to Harley. He watched in agony as her she struggled to lift her baby. She'd been such a natural with Jack, she'd been so healthy, but everything had gone wrong with this pregnancy._

 _"_ _Puddin', I can't… I need you to help," Harley almost sobbed. She was so weak. She looked like she would break at a breath of air, let alone a fight with the Batman._

 _"_ _Tell me what to do," Joker said. She guided his hands to support the baby and she kept one hand with his under the little girl's bottom. She was giving everything to her baby and Joker had never felt more like she was disappearing in front of him, let alone baby Lucy. He hadn't told Harley that he'd named their daughter, but he'd had to call her something other than 'the baby'. He watched intently as his little daughter sucked like her life depended on it, occasionally he'd look up at Harley and see the dull light in her eyes getting worse and eventually her head rolled forward as fought sleep._

 _"_ _I've got you Harls," Joker said softly. "You aren't going anywhere, you or Lucy."_

 _He took Lucy away when she'd finished and spent an hour cleaning and coaxing the baby to sleep. He crept into the bed beside Harley and pulled her against him. He couldn't do this alone._

"I could forgive you for not looking for me," Jason shouted at Batman. "I could forgive you for not rescuing me, for picking another Robin and for putting another kid at risk… but why the hell is _he_ still alive?"

"Good to see your argumentative side is still alive, Jason," Joker cackled.

"Shut up!" Jason roared. "Ignoring what he's done in the past, blindly, stupidly disregarding the entire graveyards they've filled. The people who have suffered because of both of them, the friends he's crippled…"

"Jason-"

"I thought I'd be the last person he ever hurt," Jason said incredulously. "If it had been you that he'd tortured for two, whole years, if it had been you that was apparently dead to the world, I wouldn't have stopped searching this entire planet for this evil death-worshipping monster and I would've sent him straight to hell. Is it so hard to cross that line?"

"It'd be too damned easy, Jason!" Bruce snapped back. "A day doesn't go by where I don't imagine putting him through everything that he's dealt onto the people he's destroyed and then destroy _him._ If I let myself go down that route… I'll never come back and I will not be any better than Joker."

"The blood of Gotham's innocent is on your hands," Jason snarled. He moved fast and knocked the Joker's weapon out of his hand and then a second bang filled the air. Joker let out a cackle as he fell to his knees, pain blossomed through his chest as blood started to pour from him. Batman and Robin tackled Jason to the floor, Nightwing grabbed Joker's shoulders but the clown batted him away and went back to Harley. He pulled her into his lap and he smiled as his own crimson mixed with hers.

"Ain't it funny, Harls, that I always thought you'd be the death of me," Joker chuckled and rocked with her dead body. "And now, after all those promises to not hurt me, to not abandon me, you've left me here, holding your pathetic carcass. You didn't even keep your smile, princess."

 _Acid swirled around them as he lifted her to the surface, burgundy and navy blue twisted and soaked into her hair and her natural peachy skin tone faded and drained into the vat. It hurt, it burned, but he didn't care. He was more curious about how this woman had so much pull on him that he had jumped in after her._

"Joker-" Nightwing tried.

"Leave me alone," Joker chuckled. "Or I'll drag you to hell with us." He weakly aimed his gun up at Batman's sidekick and the Boy Wonder backed off. He looked down at Harley's closed eyes and bright red lipstick, about the only thing that hadn't faded in the few minutes that she'd been gone.

"Boss!" Jonny Frost shouted as he burst onto the roof top. He looked at the scene in front of him and his blood went cold, he shook his head and approached carefully. Bile rose in his throat at the sight in front of him and he struggled to keep his typical stony cold persona.

"Jonny, you take the kids, you know what to do," Joker said lowly. Jonny nodded and shook his boss's bloodied hand, stroked Harley's hair and took a deep breath.

"Thanks for all of it, Boss," Jonny said quietly. "I'll look after them. See you on the other side, Jay." He turned and straightened his tie before he left to go and get Lucy and Jack. There were a lot of things to do before they left Gotham, he now owned Joker's empire until Jack was old enough.

 _"_ _Look at them, Puddin'," Harley giggled from her spot on the sofa. Joker walked towards her and then his cold blue eyes cast over the scene in front of him. Little Lucy was plaiting Bud's Mohawk, Jack was braiding Lucy's and Lou watched over it all like a protective older brother._

 _"_ _You know how I feel about the kids being near the Hyenas, Harley," Joker growled._

 _"_ _They're not doing anythin'," Harley told him and rolled her eyes. "Princess, Cupcake, daddy doesn't want you playin' with Bud and Lou."_

 _"_ _But daaad!" Jack whined and Lucy just pouted at her father. He felt his heart swell at his daughter's face and his sons rebellion. They were good kids. They caused hell outside of the club, they were manic and Lucy's powers destroyed so much. He couldn't have been prouder. For a moment he could only see Lucy as a weak and fragile infant and Harley half a second from death trying desperately to give birth and then care for the new born. He shuddered and waved a hand at the kids before he settled beside Harley. She moved to lean against him and he kissed her fiercely for a minute._

 _His family was healthy and happy and all together._

"Thank you, Harls," Joker mumbled as he let his body succumb to blood loss. "Bats, I'm glad you get to see this. Your prodigy is four times a murderer now." He threw his head back in laughter and his body went backwards, dragging Harley with him. She laid over his chest and his hands tangled in her hair as he laughed.

Bright white light filled the darkness and he shook his head to clear it. He saw her walking towards him, a bright grin on her face and her Hyenas by her side. She was wearing her gold and black club dress, her jewels and heels, she looked divine.

"You're here, puddin'," she said with a soft smile. "You found me."

"Always, pumpkin pie," Joker grunted as he let go of his final breath.

The King and Queen of Gotham were dead.

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Jonny walked down the building quickly, Lucy was on his hip, her little arms wrapped tightly around his neck and he held Jack's hand. He ushered the children forwards and finally out of the old theatre just as police stormed the front doors and rushed in. He swept the kids to the side so they didn't get caught up and he guided them out of the Monarch. He saw Poison Ivy first and shook his head at her.

"No… no, she can't… no. NO!" Ivy screamed and fell to her knees. She opened her arms up and Jack and Lucy ran to her. Both children immediately started to cry and Ivy kept them as close to her as possible.

"Go home, all of you," Jonny shouted. "It's finished. Joker and Harley Quinn are dead. But, the empire still exists. It will be protected. Joker may be dead, but his son isn't. Any one of you pieces of shit step on Joker turf and you will still die."

"It's all up for grabs, Frost, you're no more than a banker-" Maroni started but a couple of bullets from Jonny's gun took out two of his gang.

"I'm not in the mood for this," Jonny snapped. "I swear to the devil himself, everything stays the same." He turned back to Ivy and pried Jack from her arms. He took the kid to the side and kept an eye on the retreating crowds.

"Uncle Jonny, what… momma and… and father-"

"You're gonna have to grow up quick now, Jack," Jonny sighed. "You and Lucy will be safe, but I need you to start learning what your parents didn't want you to know. You'll stick with me, you're going to have to take on this world earlier than planned."

"I understand, Jonny," Jack nodded and straightened up. He wiped his face on his sleeve and with all the courage he could muster, he walked to Lucy and Ivy. "Lou, come on. We need to make momma and father proud. Let's get outta here."

Ivy watched as he picked up his sister and held her hand as tightly as his little body could. He pulled her towards his father's car and opened the door. He helped Lucy into her seat and strapped her in before he got into his own. The plant goddess bit her lip and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I'm gonna need your help with Lucy, Ivy," Jonny said flatly. "I ain't goin' through the girl talk with her and her powers need you to help control them. She needs to learn from you."

"Don't make him into another Joker, Jonny."

"I don't have a choice, he's already half way there," Frost shrugged. "I'm taking them out of Gotham tonight. I'll stop by the apartment and grab a few things. Then it'll be cleaned down and all of _their_ stuff moved out. If you want anything, go and take it. I'll contact you when we hold the funeral."

"The police will store their bodies in the GCPD and then cremate them," Ivy said slowly.

"Yeah, but there are ways around that," Jonny shrugged. "We've done it before. Joker made sure we had a plan for after their death, especially if the kids were still young. There are things to do and prepare for. I'll call you."

"I'll come with you-"

"No, Ivy, no." Jonny told her and walked to the car. He saw the two children already to go and he let out a long breath. They were both little demons, Jack was already showing the same kind of thought processes as his father and Lucy was so unpredictable and difficult to control that he had no doubt in his mind that she'd be hell on earth as a teenager. He'd never wanted kids, but now he had two and he knew that the devil himself would crawl from the earth if he screwed up what Joker had ordered. He saw tears still running down Lucy's face and Jack looking out of the window as if he already owned the city.

"Come on kids, let's get outta this shit hole," Jonny said calmly. "There's a new age coming."

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 _A/N: I said I was sorry..._

 _One chapter left guys, then it's good night to this set of stories. I hope you've enjoyed it so far._


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 11

Fifteen years had passed since the death of Harley and Joker and there was a new ruler of Gotham. He held himself with his father's confidence, he slaughtered people without a seconds thought and had a mind for manipulation. He was feared and respected by all that knew of him, let alone those who knew about his heritage. His abilities with a knife where unmatched by any other Gotham criminal, he'd spread his empire through to Metropolis, Midway and beyond. He'd grown up from the little boy who missed his mother. He'd become someone that his parents would be proud of. He was an insane psychopathic killer.

Jack Isaac Quinn was of a similar height and build as his father, but his hair was dark brown with green tips. His pale skin had gotten whiter as he'd grown up and his cold blue eyes shone brightly against his stark skin. He wasn't a man of many words, unlike both his parents and his sister, but he was the new King. He could walk the streets and people parted to let him through. The cops feared having to deal with him, the Bat family were on his case more often than not and he also had no problem throwing some of his associates to the dogs just to get the upper hand. It hadn't taken him long to establish his control on the city when they'd returned to Gotham full time. Jonny Frost had kept them well away from the city so they could be safe and learn. But Jack and Lucy had grown tired of it and they wanted to stomp on the people that their parents had left them.

Lucy was the image of her mother. Sharp, intelligent, totally unpredictable and attracted all the wrong kinds of attention. He'd long given up trying to protect her from herself, she wouldn't listen and he didn't clean up any mess that she made. She was a law unto herself. He wondered if his mother had been the same before they had been born, he often wondered if that's why his father hit her so often. That was one difference he had with Joker. He didn't understand why the Clown had such a penchant for beating the woman who loved him, it was something he hoped he never put into practice.

And the woman in his life was certainly one that wouldn't take any messing around. He rarely admitted that he was connected to her, let alone sleeping with her. Helena Wayne, Batman and Catwoman's daughter also known as the Huntress to anyone who didn't know her true identity. But that was kind of hard to keep secret when naked on an old bed somewhere in Gotham with the new King of the underworld. He knew that Bruce and Selina didn't know and it was his own version of power control. She was a beautiful young woman and their lives had been intertwined long ago. They knocked lumps out of each other, arrested and tried to kill one another and then went to bed and worked out their issues.

So as he watched his secret girlfriend shimmy into her tight leather suit and disappear out the window, he smirked to himself. If only the Batman knew who his precious daughter was sleeping with. Eventually he dressed himself and headed on home to the club. It was mid-afternoon and he knew that Lucy wouldn't be anywhere near ready to go out. But he had a surprise for her. Something that had taken a few years to put together. He saw Frost talking to the bar staff and patted him on the shoulder.

"How are we doing Frosty?" Jack asked, knowing the nickname pissed off the older man.

"Full tally of dancers and bar staff, sir," Frost nodded. "And they're all gonna be puttin' money in the pot tonight, rather than in their pockets."

"Good. Is the she-witch upstairs still?"

"Of course, sir, it's not midnight yet," Jonny smirked. "And we're missing Rocky, she asked him to sort the armoury and he hasn't come back yet."

"For gods sake," Jack hissed. It had long become a running joker that Lucy found the contents of her bedroom more important during the day. He walked up the stairs, rather than the lift, and finally reached the apartment. He could hear thumping music from one end of the block and rolled his eyes. So she was at least awake, but loud music only meant one thing for his sister. He marched up the corridor, stamping his feet hard on the floor as he went. He banged his fist on the door four times and waited for a second before knocking again.

"Lucy! Get your ass out of bed!" Jack shouted.

"Fuck off, Jackie! A girl needs her beauty sleep!" Lucy yelled back, her Brooklyn accent thick and annoying.

"We all know you're not sleeping!" Jack retorted.

"And we all know you're fuckin' Helena Wayne!" she cackled. He'd had enough and he kicked down open the door, ripping the bolt off. He stormed in and pulled his gun from the holster. The sight before him was not an unusual one, but it still made him feel slightly sick. Lucy was on her back, her hands ripping down the back of one of the henchmen and her legs wrapped around his hips.

"Piss off, Jack!" Lucy hissed.

"Ah shit, sorry, boss, I didn't… she told me-"

"I know," Jack sighed and shot the man before he could finish his sentence.

"The hell?" Lucy shouted and pushed the dead body off her and onto the floor. She pulled a sheet around her body and knelt up on the mattress, a furious expression on her face. She had a small spatter of blood on her face, but she didn't care. "If you're allowed to screw around with Batman's daughter-"

"They are scum, Lucy!" Jack roared. "They are lowlife, pathetic criminals. Every time you do this, we have to kill them. Remember who the hell you are! These are the poor bastards that do our dirty work, you don't know what kind of diseases they might have! Dad would've-"

"Dad's dead, Jack," Lucy growled. "He's been dead for most of our lives! Stop using him as a weapon, he doesn't scare me!"

"Get dressed," Jack snarled. "We're going out."

"It's daylight, moron," she spat.

"No shit, Sherlock!" Jack huffed. "You're the Princess of Gotham, Lucy, grow some standards for fuck's sake. How many times do I have to tell you that the henchmen are out of bounds?"

"Yeah, cos the decent ones of the city are lining up for me, ain't they?" Lucy laughed.

"Get dressed and meet me down in the club," Jack said angrily. He turned and walked away, he couldn't cope with her when she was like this. Her powers became unpredictable and that meant trouble. As she'd grown, her powers had become more and more powerful. She'd spent a year with Ivy to help train her to control her abilities and it had worked to a degree. But she was a handful, it would've been much easier had they had parents for their younger years. Lucy was fairly independent and out of control, she did what she wanted when she wanted to do it and there was no disputing it. He still tried, they had a reputation to maintain after-all.

She was 17 years old and her legs were covered in tattoos, she had died half her hair red and the other half black. She used powder on her face to make her skin even paler and her long plaits gave her an innocent appearance, she was anything but of course. She used her body and looks to get everything she wanted, she thought nothing of seducing the goons, using them for a night and then destroying their remains. When her hair dye faded, she had the same bleached blonde hair that her mother had had and she was fairly identical to Harley in every way. It caused enough problems.

Jack considered himself patient enough with his sister, but sometimes he just let her go and get into trouble on her own. It was the only way to teach her when she was in one of her moods. It made him wish Joker was around, just so she would get a taste of her own medicine and he knew for a fact that their father would lose his shit if he was alive and caught her sleeping with the henchmen. She was his little girl, Lucy hadn't been able to do any bad when Joker was alive and he didn't doubt it'd be the same now.

Jack had kept Jonny back as they waited for Lucy. The staff had moved off and started getting the club ready for the evening's entertainment. They chatted casually for about 30 minutes before Lucy finally put in an appearance. She was wearing black denim shorts that sat low on her hips and just covered her ass, a white halter-neck waistcoat top that exposed a little too much cleavage for a girl of her age. She had red heavy boots on her feet and then rose patterned tights.

"What's that?" Jack asked.

"Clothes, you didn't specify a dress code, _dad_ ," Lucy sniffed. He just rolled his eyes and the three of them walked out to the car. Jack jumped into the drivers seat and took them to one of the abandoned dock warehouses. It was eerily quiet, but that's what they needed. A bit of privacy, a bit of alone time and a whole lot of luck.

"What are we doin' here?" Lucy asked, her accent grating on his ears.

"You'll see." He led them into the building and as they wound their way to the depths of the dark empty cavernous place, Lucy felt her skin prickle a little bit. Jack finally stopped in front of a large swimming pool sized vat of chemicals, there were also two caskets beside the vat with the tops still on.

"What is it?"

"This is the Lazarus Pit," Jack told his sister. "I tracked down Thalia al Ghul, after her father died trying to force Batman into the Head of the Demon, he destroyed the pit. Thalia's been repairing it, but she didn't have the equipment or the chemicals to resurrect Ra's al Ghul. I found her and provided the parts she needed and the stuff in the vat, as a thank you, we can use it."

"Did she have an option?" Lucy smirked.

"A bullet to the head is a very convincing argument," Jack chuckled.

"So are they your folks?" Jonny asked, pointing at the caskets.

"Indeed, they've been preserved and stitched up so when they resurrect they should be fine, but the Pit should heal them too," Jack nodded. "It's been a few years to this point. There's one thing I need you to do Lucy."

"You need me to use my powers to do it?" Lucy mumbled. "What if I-"

"Happy thoughts, good thoughts, they'll be fine."

"I might disintegrate their bodies, Jack," Lucy whispered emotionally. "I can't… I don't want to do it."

"They can be back, Luce," Jack said gently. "We can have our parents back, they shouldn't have died how they did. Momma… Father… you just need to think of happy things and we can have them back. We don't… we won't be alone anymore."

Lucy paused, she'd always wanted her parents back in her life. She had a handful of memories, mostly of Joker, but she'd grown up feeling like she'd missed out and she was jealous that Jack got to spend so much time with them. But to bring them back? She didn't know if she had that kind of control over her powers. She didn't get the chance to doubt herself as Jack and Jonny were already lifting the bodies of Joker and Harley from the caskets.

"See you soon, momma," Jack whispered to Harley and put her down into the fluid. Jonny smiled at the younger man and then put Joker beside Harley. Lucy moved to the edge of the vat and stared at the scene for a minute, she tried to conjure up happy memories, but all she could do was doubt herself.

"Jack, I-I can't do this," she stammered, all of her normal bravado gone.

"Yes you can," Jack told her. "Put your hands on the surface and think of good things."

Lucy clenched her hands into fists as her palms became hot and she took a long breath. She knelt down and reached over the edge, laying her hands flat over the surface. She looked up to the floating bodies of her parents and closed her eyes, trying desperately to think of only good things. She tried to pull back those few hazy memories of her parents, but they were too fuzzy so she thought about the times with Jack out of Gotham when they were young orphans.

"That's it, Lucy, well done," Jack said encouragingly. "Keep going, its working."

Lucy fell back into her memories and focused on the most powerful and happy times of her life. She was fully absorbed in her mind and the stories that played out in front of her that she didn't react as her powers worked on Joker and Harley. It wasn't until she felt a wet hand on her shoulder that she was pulled from her reverie.

"You did it, princess."

"Daddy!" Lucy gasped and tears burst from her eyes. She threw her arms around him as tightly as she could and screwed her eyes shut. It had worked, they were back and she had her family back together again. "Daddy, I… I missed you so much!"

"It's okay, sweetheart, I got you," he said calmly and held her against him. Lucy opened her eyes to see Jack and Harley also hugging. The woman was peppering kisses all over her adult son's face and Jack was positively glowing at the attention.

"Lucy!" Harley gasped and dragged Jack over. Joker let go of his daughter and Harley immediately grabbed Lucy into a hug.

"Father," Jack said awkwardly. He'd never been the one who'd received displays of affection from Joker, that had always been for Lucy and he didn't see why Joker would start now. However, the Clown did very quickly embrace him and that made Jack smiled broadly.

"You're so beautiful, you've grown up so much! You're both so… I'm gonna cry," Harley gasped.

"Don't you start," Joker teased and Harley looked over to him.

"Puddin'," Harley grinned. She kissed Lucy's cheeks once more and moved towards her husband. "You look good for a dead guy."

"Come here and let me take that smirk off your face," Joker chuckled and pulled her into him. He kissed her hard and wrapped his arms around her tightly. After a few minutes, he released her and grinned at his family and Jonny Frost. Harley once again went to her children and looked them over like they were marvels of nature. Joker patted Jack and Lucy's shoulders and looked between them all.

"Let's go home."

 **The End**

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Come on, you didn't think I'd leave them dead, did you?

I want to say a massive thank you for every single person that's read, favourited, reviewed and followed Young Gods, Toxic Love and Family Portrait. You have been amazing and I love you all. This is where the story ends for this take on Joker, Harley and my own version of their future. I know they have been extremely out of Character at points, but I think it fits in with the story and the slow burn of Joker realising how much he needs his Harley, let alone their children. They're a fascinating pair that we shouldn't ship and we shouldn't even like them, but there's something about our favourite pair of clowns that keeps us coming back despite how cruel and abusive Joker can be to Harley. Saying that, I do love that in Suicide Squad we got a Joker that was more 'into' Harley than most other versions of these characters, it's refreshing as a 90's child (and Harley fan) to have that slightly more twisted toxicity to these characters.

I hope you've enjoyed all 3 stories and I hope that you'll join me for any more that I post in the future, if I post in the future. It's definitely been fun and slightly scary to fall into writing these two so easily.

Thanks again guys and gals! :D

UDPS x


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